United Airlines starts direct service from Newark to Faro in 2024

On Thursday, United unveiled its plans to make summer 2024 the “airline’s largest transatlantic sched- ule in its history.” That means it will continue flying nonstop to the off-the- beaten-path European cities like Dubrovnik (DBV), the Spanish isles of Tenerife (TFS), Palma de Mallorca (PMI), and countless more. But United is also adding some additional pins to its map next year, bringing back old favorite routes, and expanding existing services, including:

•Summer flights from Newark (EWR) to Faro (FAO), the first nonstop service to the Algarve coast of Portugal

Bringing back summer service between Newark (EWR) and Reykjavik (KEF)

Adding a second daily flight between Newark (EWR) and Brussels (BRU) through the summer

And a second daily flight from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Rome (FCO) through the summer, too

Flights between Newark (EWR) and Malaga (AGP) on the coast of Spain that began this past summer will ramp up to daily serv- ice in 2024, up from three times a week.

But the bigger news is that United is betting travelers are anxious to head to Europe earlier than ever – maybe as early as February 2024. So the airline is also resuming many of its “summer” seasonal routes earlier, like:
Seasonal flights from Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to Rome (FCO), Barcelona (BCN), and Lisbon (LIS) all commence February 15, 2024

Service from Newark (EWR) to Nice (NCE) in the French Riviera will restart on March 30

Chicago-O’Hare (ORD)’s flights to both Rome (FCO) and Milan (MXP) will also restart on March 30

Shortly afterward, the Newark (EWR) route to Naples (NAP) kicks off on April 5

Flights between Newark (EWR) and Malaga (AGP) will resume on May 2

San Francisco (SFO) to Rome (FCO) will kick off May 2, too

Those are weeks – if not months – earlier than airlines typically restart their summer seasonal routes. It’s evidence of just how hungry Americans still are to get over to Europe – and to get a better deal by traveling over the shoulder season rather than the pricier peak summer. United said it flew 33% more passengers to Europe last spring compared to 2022.

Case in point: Faro will be United’s fourth Portuguese destination, along with Lisbon, Porto (OPO), and Ponta Delgada (PDL) on the Azores islands. Delta and American fly to just one: the capital city of Lisbon.