United Airlines is on a mission for 2022 to establish itself as the dominant US long-haul carrier.
Global borders are reopening and US carriers are focused on expansion. The new year will see US airlines fly to distant destinations once again including new and returning destinations in Singapore, Australia, India, and more.
United, however, wants to be the carrier to take travelers to more of those destinations and plans to fly its aircraft further than its competition. The strategy will give travelers more non-stop options when traveling to underserved overseas destinations but is also part of United’s new goal to be America’s flag carrier, similar to British Airways in the UK or Air France in France but for which the US has no official designation.
“Frankly, we are the flag carrier of the US,” Scott Kirby, United’s chief executive officer, told reporters in June. “Our international long haul wide-body fleet is almost as big as all of the other US airlines’ [wide-body fleets] combined. We fly to places that no one else flies.”
In October, United announced five new destinations in Europe and the Middle East to which no other US carriers currently fly. And out of the top 10 longest routes being flown by US airlines in 2022, eight of them will be flown by United if the pandemic and travel restrictions allow.
Here’s are the eight longest routes United Airlines plans to fly in 2022:
- Between San Francisco and Bangalore, India
- Between Houston and Sydney, Australia
- Between San Francisco and Singapore
- Between Newark and Hong Kong
- Between Newark and Johannesburg, South Africa
- Between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia
- Between San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia
- Between Newark and Cape Town, South Africa
