United will return to Prague and Stockholm while starting Washington-Berlin flights

United Airlines is bringing Newark back to Prague and Stockholm Arlanda, marking a return to both European airports. And Washington Dulles in Berlin will finally begin. They were supposed to come back/start this year but got postponed.

All are now loaded and bookable, each taking off in May. They arrive as Norse Atlantic’s Berlin base opens in the summer of 2022, while Delta will now fly JFK-Berlin next year.

Prague, Stockholm, Berlin

All three United routes will depart from the United States on May 25 and operate once daily. Prague will see three-class, 214-seat B767-300ERs, with 30 Polaris seats, 46 in economy plus and 138 in regular economy. The nature of the market means it’s no surprise it doesn’t use its much more upmarket four-class, 167-seat B767s.

Stockholm will use 169-seat B757-200ERs, with 45 seats in economy plus and only 108 in economy. It uses the B757 on various new European routes that started in 2022, including Bergen, which launched two months ago.

Washington to Berlin, meanwhile, will deploy 240-seat B767-400ERs, with 39 Polaris seats, 70 economy plus and 131 economy. It will complement United’s existing Newark-Berlin service (1x daily, B767-300ER).

United were due to start Washington Dulles-Berlin this year, but will now start in 2023. Image: GCMap.

here are the details

The schedule for all three is as follows, with all local times. Only Stockholm will have head-to-head “competition”, but with compatriot Star Alliance SAS (1x per day, A330-300). However, it will indirectly compete with Delta’s JFK-Stockholm (1x daily, B767-300ER) and probably also Norse Atlantic soon, and Delta’s JFK-Prague (1x daily, B767-300ER).

• Newark to Prague: UA168, 6:05 p.m.-8:25 a.m.+1, 1x per day (8h 20m block time); from May 25
• Prague to Newark: UA167, 10:10 a.m.-1:25 p.m. (9:15 a.m.); from May 26
• Newark to Stockholm: UA68, 5.15 p.m.-7.25 a.m.+1, once a day (8h 10m); May 25
• Stockholm to Newark: UA67, 09h10-11h55 (8h 45m); May 26
• Washington Dulles in Berlin: UA234, 5.45pm-8.20am+1, once a day (8h 35m); May 25
• From Berlin to Washington Dulles: UA235, 11:10am-2:30pm (9am 20m); May 26

Read more: Revealed: The world’s 10 largest long-distance carriers in July 2022

Like Continental, United will deploy the B757-200ER to Stockholm. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Single flight.

Prague and Stockholm: a summary

United opened Newark-Prague in June 2019, with the summer route ending in October. The pandemic has ended his comeback, so far. This will be yet another development for the capital of the Czech Republic. Data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows United flew 41,926 passengers in the first season, with a seat load factor (SLF) of 84%. It had 88% in the peak month of August. Booking data suggests that six out of ten Prague passengers transited through Newark.

Stockholm, on the other hand, was an old continental route and used the B757-200ER. (There was a time when Newark-Stockholm had three airlines: Continental, SAS and Malaysia Airlines, the latter continuing to Kuala Lumpur.)

While the Swedish capital was all year with Continental and for a few years with United, it became fully summer (normally May-September) in 2016. She last flew in September 2019 and did not resume for an obvious reason. In 2019, it had 36,472 passengers and an SLF of 86%. Just over one in two passengers passed through Newark.

Prague will have the B767-300ER (shown here) and Berlin the B767-400ER. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Single flight.

And Berlin?

Washington to Berlin is a whole new market. It has never been mined before, or at least not in the last 32 years. Booking data shows it had around 35,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers in 2019. That year, Washington was Berlin’s sixth unserved U.S. market, while Berlin was Dulles’ third unserved European destination. .

What do you think of the developments? Let us know in the comments.