Miguel Praga

🚀 In summer 2025, United will lead connections between Europe and the USA, introducing new routes and modifying current ones. In Spain, United ends flights to Tenerife (now a winter destination) and increases Mallorca flights from three to four weekly. Dubrovnik flights become daily. Eight new routes include Bilbao (three times weekly with a Boeing 757), Palermo, Funchal, Faro, Dakar, Greenland, and additional ones in the Far East. United targets not just European capitals but also medium-sized cities like Málaga, without changes in existing plans. Most flights depart from Newark, New York, with a few from Washington DC to Niza and Venecia, unchanged from previous years.

✈ IATA reports 14% of the global aircraft fleet is grounded, 4 percentage points higher than pre-COVID levels, totaling approximately 1,600 additional stored planes. Widebody storage rate is 12.1%, up from 7.5% in August 2019, mainly in Europe and North America. The B777 model has 166 units parked with an average age of 20 years, compared to the total in-service commercial fleet average of 13 years. Short-haul aircraft, especially turboprops, see 25.8% not in service, up from 19.2% five years ago. For narrow-body planes, the rate is 10.5%, compared to 7.7% in 2019; discounting 635 temporarily retired due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues, the rate would be 7.4%. North America has the highest number of grounded aircraft, partly due to the US pilot shortage.