Just a few months ago, the Grand Wizards at United planning touted a massive redeployment of aircraft. The 767T and 777 flying in IAH would be shifted elsewhere to make way for a large influx of 787's. Well..........



On Wednesday we announced route changes for certain widebody aircraft, effective with the spring/summer 2016 schedule. These changes will help us further optimize our network by matching the right equipment to the right markets.

We will redeploy our Boeing 787-9 aircraft from IAH to our West Coast hubs, LAX and SFO. When we have completed this redeployment, we’ll fly the 787-9 on routes between SFO and SYD (Sydney), TPE (Taipei, Taiwan) and HND (Tokyo Haneda) and between LAX and MEL (Melbourne, Australia), NRT, PVG (Shanghai), SYD and LHR (London Heathrow). In addition, we will fly SFO-ICN (Seoul, South Korea) with a 787-9 between Aug. 1 and Oct. 21, 2016. The IAH routes that we previously flew with the 787-9 will be re-fleeted predominantly with Boeing 767s and Boeing 777s, and the 777s displaced from LAX and SFO will be re-assigned primarily to EWR, ORD and IAD.

“One of our greatest assets at United is our powerful, comprehensive network, so we continually review our plans to make sure we’re listening to customers and matching the right aircraft with the right market,” said Network VP Brian Znotins. “The 787-9 is a very fuel-efficient aircraft that is designed to perform most efficiently on long-haul routes, like our trans-Pacific flights.”

Our overall amount of flying will remain consistent at each hub, as we plan to continue serving the same routes with the same number of flights per day.

We expect that this shift in flying is likely to impact subsidiary CO and subsidiary UA staffing levels at several of our flight attendant bases. We hope to have more details in the coming weeks and a final network plan by the end of October. In addition, we expect to see a modest impact on staffing levels at our pilot bases. We will share more information for pilots and flight attendants as soon as it becomes available.