After JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, and Southwest Airlines each had to cut a slew of summer flights due to pilot and other staffing shortages last month, United Airlines has suspended seven long-haul flights in June due to an entirely different problem: lack of planes.
Specifically, the airline is waiting for the green light to bring back its Boeing 777s, which have been grounded since February 2021, due to an engine explosion that showered debris onto a Denver suburb.
“United makes regular adjustments to our schedule in response to factors including resources such as available aircraft,” United said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing back this flying soon.”
The routes that have been suspended for June are between:
- Newark International Airport (EWR) and Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG)
- Newark and Honolulu International Airport (HNL)
- Newark and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT)
- Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil (GRU)
- Washington Dulles and Switzerland’s Geneva Airport (GVA)
- Washington Dulles and Honolulu
- Washington Dulles and Dublin Airport in Ireland (DUB)
According to the airline, those routes should be operational again in July.
Interestingly, temporarily cutting these routes comes as the airline is also expanding into six new destinations—the most significant transatlantic growth in the company’s history. Within the next month, United will be flying to Amman, Jordan; Bergen, Norway; Azores, Portugal; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands, none of which is currently being served by any other North American carrier. United will also resume its service between San Francisco and Melbourne in June.
>>Next: How Airlines Get New Routes
