• N14106 United Airlines (Her Art Here-California Livery) Boeing 757-224 (1)
    United Airlines
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    UA/UAL
    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Guam International Airport, Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport
    Year Founded:
    1931
    Alliance:
    Star Alliance
    CEO:
    Scott Kirby
    Country:
    United States

United Airlines is bringing back Newark to Prague and Stockholm Arlanda, marking a return to both European airports. And Washington Dulles to Berlin will finally begin. They were meant to return/start this year but were postponed.

All are now loaded and bookable, with each taking off in May. They come as Norse Atlantic's Berlin base opens in summer 2022, while Delta will now fly JFK-Berlin next year.

Prague, Stockholm, Berlin

All three United routes will take off from the USA on May 25th and operate 1x daily. Prague will see three-class, 214-seat B767-300ERs, with 30 Polaris seats, 46 in economy plus, and 138 in regular economy. The nature of the market means it isn't surprising it's not using its much more premium four-class, 167-seat B767s.

Stockholm will use 169-seat B757-200ERs, with 45 economy plus seats and just 108 in economy. It uses the B757 on various brand-new Europe routes that began in 2022, including Bergen, which launched two months ago.

Washington to Berlin, meanwhile, will deploy 240-seat B767-400ERs, with 39 Polaris seats, 70 in economy plus, and 131 in economy. It'll supplement United's existing Newark-Berlin service (1x daily, B767-300ER).

United's three resuming routes
United was to begin Washington Dulles-Berlin this year, but it will now start in 2023. Image: GCMap.

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Here are the details

The schedule of all three is as follows, with all times local. Only Stockholm will have head-to-head 'competition', albeit with fellow Star Alliance SAS (1x daily, A330-300). However, it'll compete indirectly with Delta's JFK-Stockholm (1x daily, B767-300ER) and likely also Norse Atlantic soon, and Delta's JFK-Prague (1x daily, B767-300ER).

  • Newark to Prague: UA168, 18:05-08:25+1, 1x daily (8h 20m block time); beginning May 25th
  • Prague to Newark: UA167, 10:10-13:25 (9h 15m); starting May 26th
  • Newark to Stockholm: UA68, 17:15-07:25+1, 1x daily (8h 10m); May 25th
  • Stockholm to Newark: UA67, 09:10-11:55 (8h 45m); May 26th
  • Washington Dulles to Berlin: UA234, 17:45-08:20+1, 1x daily (8h 35m); May 25th
  • Berlin to Washington Dulles: UA235, 11:10-14:30 (9h 20m); May 26th

Read more: Revealed: The 10 Largest Long-Haul Operators Globally In July 2022

United Airlines (Her Art Here-California Livery) Boeing 757-224 N14106 (2)
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

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Prague and Stockholm: a summary

United inaugurated Newark-Prague in June 2019, with the summer-seasonal route ending in October. The pandemic put paid to its return, until now. It'll be yet another development for the Czech Republic capital. US Department of Transportation data shows United carried 41,926 passengers in the first season, with a seat load factor (SLF) of 84%. It had 88% in peak month August. Booking data suggests six in ten Prague passengers transited Newark.

Stockholm, meanwhile, was a former Continental route and used the B757-200ER. (There was a time when Newark-Stockholm had three airlines: Continental, SAS, and Malaysia Airlines, the latter continuing to Kuala Lumpur.)

While the Swedish capital was year-round with Continental and for a few years with United, it became fully summer-seasonal (normally May-September) in 2016. It last flew in September 2019 and didn't resume for an obvious reason. In 2019, it had 36,472 passengers and a SLF of 86%. Just over one in every two passengers transited Newark.

United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

What about Berlin?

Washington to Berlin is a brand-new market. It hasn't been operated before, or at least not in the past 32 years. Booking data shows that it had about 35,000 roundtrip point-to-point passengers in 2019. In that year, Washington was Berlin's sixth-largest unserved US market, while Berlin was Dulles' third-largest unserved European destination.

What are your thoughts on the developments? Let us know in the comments.