United Airlines ramps up London service
With the United Kingdom having re-opened to fully vaccinated travellers from the US from August 2, United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare) is ramping up its operations to more than 40 weekly flights this month across the Atlantic.
United re-introduces six daily flights to London Heathrow by increasing its service from Houston Intc’l from five times weekly to daily using a B787-9 Dreamliner; and adding a second daily flight from Washington Dulles with a B767-300(ER), the ch-aviation schedules reveals. The airline maintained continuous service between the US and Heathrow during the pandemic and will continue operating daily flights to London from Chicago O’Hare, New York Newark, and San Francisco, CA. The airline plans to continue offering these six daily flights in September, it said in a statement. Flights to Chicago and San Francisco are operated with B787-9s, and to Newark with B787-10s.
It also planned to resume additional London services in the coming months as well as launching a new nonstop service between Boston and London.
United’s Vice President of International Network and Alliances, Patrick Quayle, hailed the re-opening of England, one of the airline’s most important markets, as “yet another major milestone in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic”. “United has demonstrated that we can operate flights between the US and England safely and we are eager to help rebuild these economies by facilitating business and leisure travel.”
United also operates more than 30 daily flights to 16 destinations in Europe this summer. The carrier has expanded its service to Europe including new routes to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Reykjavik Keflavik, Iceland; and Athens Int’l, Greece.
Americans traveling to the UK must be fully vaccinated in the US with vaccines that have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and must take a test before departure as well as a PCR test within the first two days of arrival. Passengers vaccinated in the US will also need to complete a passenger locator form prior to travelling to the UK and provide proof of US residency.