Narayan AmmachchiUnited Airlines has announced that in October it will resume flights to nearly a dozen Latin American destinations, including Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, and Panama City.
The news comes after the carrier found a moderate improvement in bookings for leisure travel in certain short-haul destinations in the region.
In a statement, the airline said it would either resume or increase services to Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, the Mexican resort town popular with tourists.
“United is realigning its schedule patterns with the customer in mind to match the current demand for leisure travel,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s Vice President of Domestic Network Planning. “We continue to be data-driven and realistic in our approach to rebuilding our network.”
Most of these flights will begin in the carrier’s US hubs, including Chicago, Denver, Houston, New York City, and Washington DC.
Meanwhile, United has decided not to charge any fee for changing travel schedules. And it has also introduced a new way of checking bags while reducing physical contact. The carrier will also issue a travel guide with information about coronavirus-related restrictions in destinations it is flying to.
Unlike LatAm carriers, US airlines have not fired any of their employees nor sent any of them on pay-less leave as given that they are financially supported by the US federal government under the CARES Act.
However, United has recently warned that it may have no option but to furlough around 16,000 employees in October if the US Federal Government does not amend the CARES Act extending the financial support beyond the next month.
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