Polignano a Mare in the Puglia region. Italy.
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United AirlinesThe international travel plan for summer 2026 is out and small European cities are included in it.
Starting April 30, United plans to fly from its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Split on the Croatian coast, its second destination in the country. A day later, the carrier launched from Newark to Bari, in southern Italy’s popular Puglia region on the Adriatic Sea.
May 22 is the scheduled launch of a nonstop flight from Newark to Santiago de Compostela, in the Galicia region of Spain, the end of the famous pilgrimage route to Santiago.
These additions show United’s latest bet on high-spending travelers looking for trips beyond major European capitals, and the ability to fly to those places nonstop, without connecting at major hubs. The carrier competes with Delta for high-spending travelers. Most of the new routes are operated with aircraft equipped with its ever-shifting, tilting Polaris cabin.
United executives have long touted its vast international network as a driver of customer loyalty and sign-ups for lucrative travel rewards credit cards.
Delta, for its part, has used a similar strategy and last month announced new non-stop routes to Malta and the Italian region of Sardinia for next summer.
United’s other additions include a first flight on May 21 from its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland, and a year-round daily nonstop flight from Newark to Seoul, South Korea, starting next September. It will also launch a flight from Newark to Glasgow, Scotland, on May 8, on a Boeing 737 Max 8.
Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of global network planning and alliances at United, said destinations announced by the carrier last year, including Nuuk, Greenland, would remain on the airline’s schedule for 2026.
United also plans to add a third daily flight to Tel Aviv from Newark starting March 28.
Majestic landscape of flowing Godafoss waterfall with colorful sunset sky and male tourist standing on cliff of Skjalfandafljot river in summer in northern Iceland.
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