United adding, restoring flights to October slate
United Airlines announced Friday that it plans to add and restore routes to its October schedule. The new and returning routes mean the Chicagobased airline will fly 46% of last October’s domestic schedule, an 8% increase over September.
The airline will restore eight Hawaii routes, wagering that Hawaii will allow out-of-state visitors to return without quarantining for 14 days beginning Oct. 1. The Aloha State requires transPacific and inter-island travelers to submit a digital application with their health and contact information, and once it allows out-of-state visitors to return, officials plan to institute a “resort bubble” that will keep tabs on them but allow them to move between islands.
The airline said it plans to add domestic flights on days close to the weekend in an attempt to appeal to leisure travelers looking to “get a head start on long weekend getaways.”
United will add international routes to destinations where Americans are allowed to fly in Mexico, Central America and South America. It will fly 33% of its October 2019 international schedule, a 4% increase over September.
The new international routes include Bogota, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; and Panama City. The airline will restore or increase service to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City. Across the Atlantic, it will restore service to Tel Aviv, Israel, from New York and Washington.
Adding leisure travel routes is somewhat unusual for October, but 2020 has been anything but usual, and the coronavirus pandemic forced the industry to take advantage of any bright spot in an otherwise bleak landscape. While business travel is next to nonexistent, leisure travel is that bright spot.
“Because October is typically a slower month for leisure travel, we’re adjusting our schedules to reflect these seasonal changes in customer demand while resuming service or adding capacity on routes where we’re seeing increased customer demand for travel,” Ankit Gupta, United’s vice president of domestic network planning, said in a news release.
Southwest Airlines announced it is adding two destinations, Miami International Airport and Palm Springs International Airport, to woo travelers.
United’s plan to add flights comes days after it announced it will furlough 16,000 workers, less than half the number it warned about in July.
Airline officials said the final number could come down further before Oct. 1 after the expiration of a prohibition in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that bans carriers that accept bailout money from laying off employees. United said the furloughs would be postponed if Washington approves $25 billion to help passenger airlines cover payroll costs.
Flight attendants will bear the brunt of the cuts: 6,920 face furloughs. About 2,850 pilots, 2,010 maintenance workers and 1,400 management and support staff would lose their jobs.