In another hopeful sign for air travel, United Airlines is going to reinstate some of the flights it had suspended due to the coronavirus at 150 U.S. and Canadian destinations.
United’s plans for July, disclosed Friday to USA TODAY in an email, came as the week closed with several indicators from airlines that passenger traffic continues to bounce back after stay-at-home orders dropped volume to levels not seen since the 1950s.
Even with the resumption of some service, United said its domestic passenger capacity in July will still be down 70% compared to the same time last year. Still, that’s an improvement from June, when it will be off 87%. The summer vacation season is usually a boom time for airlines.
United also had good news for flyers who hate having to make connections: 140 nonstop routes that had been suspended are being restored.
Some of the service will be resumed to cities that typically have large numbers of business travelers – New York, Boston, Seattle, and Philadelphia, among them – as more companies allow employees to go back to work.
But United said it is also including some key leisure-oriented destinations like Charleston, South Carolina; Portland, Maine; various cities in Florida and Las Vegas, where major hotel-casino resorts reopened this week to the delight of gamblers and other pleasure seekers.
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United said it is also adding service to airports that serve national parks and wilderness areas, like Aspen, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, “where social distancing is a natural feature.”
Canadian cities with restored service will include Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, United said.
Other international service is on the rebound, too. United is boosting flights to Europe from Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Service is being reopened to Tokyo-Haneda in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul, South Korea, along with expanded service to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Overall, United said its international capacity will be down 75% in July compared to the same month last year, an improvement over the 90% drop this month.
American Airlines said that its daily passenger count was up to 110,000 in May, up from an April low of 32,000.
“We’re seeing a slow but steady rise in domestic demand,” said Vasu Raja, American’s senior vice president of network strategy in a statement. “After a careful review of data, we’ve built a July schedule to match.”