United Airlines Updates Winter Schedule, Ending Two Long-Haul Routes

United Airlines is set to make updates to its Northern Winter 2024/2025 long-haul schedule. Here are some notable changes I’ve found so far:

• Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL) canceled

• Los Angeles (LAX) to Brisbane (BNE) canceled

• San Francisco (SFO) to Brisbane (BNE) Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200ER replaces 787-9

• Newark (EWR) to Tenerife (TFS) extended from seasonal to year-round.

• Newark (EWR) to Paris (CDG) flights reduced

United just launched the Los Angeles to Auckland and Brisbane routes last winter, but no longer plans to operate the two for the coming winter. However, United will make up some of the lost Brisbane capacity by upgauging its SFO-BNE route from the 257-seat 787-9 to the 350-seat 777-300ER between December 19 and March 7. Outside of this period, United will operate the 777-200ER on SFO-BNE.

Joint venture partner Air New Zealand continues to fly between Los Angeles and Auckland and plans to operate 12 weekly flights this winter.

Both Australia and New Zealand have seen an influx of capacity from U.S. carriers in recent seasons. This past winter, Delta Air Lines launched a new Los Angeles to Auckland route and will begin Los Angeles to Brisbane flights this winter. American Airlines restarted its Los Angeles to Auckland route last winter and plans to commence a new Dallas to Brisbane route this coming winter.

With all this capacity straining the market, United is likely pulling the weaker Los Angeles flights and redeploying the aircraft to higher-yielding routes.

For Tenerife in the Canary Islands, United commenced the city’s only transatlantic service with a route to Newark in 2022. This was operated as a summer-seasonal service but will now be extended to year-round and continue with a 3x weekly Boeing 757-200.