United Airlines bets on leisure demand for Summer 2021

In yet another sign of hopes that US summer 2021 demand will be driven by pent-up leisure demand, United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare) has announced a set of 27 new leisure-focused point-to-point domestic routes, mainly to East Coast destinations. “As we rebuild our schedule to meet that demand, adding in seasonal point-to-point flying is just one of the ways we are finding opportunities to add new and exciting service. And as we have done throughout the entire pandemic, we will continue being nimble and strategic with our network,” Vice-President (Domestic Network Planning & Scheduling) Ankit Gupta said. All of the above routes are due to launch on May 27-28, 2021. United Airlines also announced a new Hawaiian service, connecting Santa Ana, CA with Honolulu daily and starting on May 6. The route will be operated by mainline B737-800 narrowbodies. In sum, United Airlines said that its May 2021 capacity would amount to 52% of its May 2019 level (58% on the domestic market). However, the recovery is highly uneven, with long-haul markets dragging the average down. The airline plans to increase its Latin American capacity above the pre-pandemic level, primarily due to leisure demand for Mexico and the Caribbean.