United has announced another batch of cuts, due to aircraft shortages in June. United is still waiting on replacement parts for its 777-200 aircraft with P&W engines. Until that time many 777 long haul routes have needed to be scrapped.
The following routes will be suspended from June 1 to July 1:
Newark: Maui Honolulu Tokyo
Washington Dulles: Honolulu Geneva Dublin
United has also announced 1 permanent cut, from Newark to Stockholm. United said:
âUnited makes regular adjustments to our schedule in response to factors including resources such as available aircraft,â the airline said. âWe look forward to bringing back this flying soon.â
Even with this, the new service United is launching to Europe this summer is incredible, and Iâm excited to see a US airline present in some new European airports!
I canât say too much about this, but United is dedicating their â52s and â63s to other routes. Juneâs schedule will release on May 15 for crew bids, which is when we may begin seeing these aircraft locate to a new hub for service on select routes.
There are also plans to send a minimum of one 752 and 763 for maintenance and paint during June, limiting the number of aircraft available to substitute.
United does not have the A350, nor are they expected to in the foreseeable future; 2027 at the earliest.
New York to Tokyo may not be the most profitable route that they will run that plane on, so theyâll reposition it to some other route that will make them more money. This is a hypothetical situation, but for example, they could take it and run it to Madrid, which may make more money than Tokyo. That flight to Madrid may not be able to get full service as normal because of the shortage of 777s, so theyâll take aircraft some other routes (like EWR-NRT and IAD-HNL) and reposition them onto ones that need it urgently.
Some of yâall didnât read the article. A handful of the cut flights, though not flown by 777s, are indirectly affected by the withdrawal of the 777.
Letâs use EWR-NRT as an example. UA79 is routinely operated by a 787-9. However, many other routes in UAâs system (like EWR-LAX) that are supposed to be flown with a 777-200 are being substituted with 787s. This subsequently creates a lack of 787s, and therefore route cuts.
Some of these routes donât even use the 777, in fact. EWR-HNL has had the 764 on it several times, and EWR-OGG was the 763 for example. Think itâs mainly because they need these planes on other routes since they donât have enough 777s and had to decide which routes will get suspended for extra planes, even if they werenât 777 routes.
With the age of Unitedâs B777-200 and B777-200ER, has wet leasing or taking on white-tails not been considered? Perhaps even considering with taking on some A350-900 in the meantime would be a good option. A replacement strategy really needs to be figured out before they end up in a position like Qantas where theyâre stretching their fleet to the limit.
Not really, no. UAâs 777 fleet still has life left in them, and thereâs no reason for United to remove them. The problem with wet-leasing is that they already own a majority of their current 777 fleet, so selling those to lease them back is kind of pointless.
Furthermore, United has begun to have their P&W aircraft fitted with the new livery. This is an indication that they donât want to remove them from service. Select aircraft are also planned to be reconfigured with the Polaris cabin.
Eh. I agree, but Unitedâs situation is slightly different. They have the aircraft, but, for one reason or another, theyâre choosing not to use them (i.e., 752s (14), 753s (7), 763s (5), and 764s(4) in storage).
