Despite an industrywide cutback in international flights, United Airlines is relaunching its seasonal Denver-London daily nonstop service that it began and halted last year.
The first Denver-London nonstop is March 29, and the first London-Denver nonstop is March 30, United spokesman Rahsaan John son said Tuesday.
The last Denver-London nonstop of the season is Oct. 23 and the last London-Denver nonstop is Oct. 24.
Overseas flights that used to be airlines’ crown jewels are being cut back as travelers who flew in the expensive seats up front are moving toward the back, if they fly at all.
Delta Air Lines said Tuesday it will cut international flights another 10 percent in September. United is cutting international flights 15 percent in its first quarter alone.
Those two airlines are by far the largest U.S. carriers to Asia.
Speaking at an analyst conference in New York, Delta chief financial officer Ed Bastian said the cut comes on top of previously announced systemwide cuts of 6 to 8 percent.
American plans to cut international flights 2.5 percent this year. International bookings over the next four months are running 4.5 percentage points behind the same period last year, said chief financial officer Thomas W. Horton of American parent AMR Corp.
While airlines can shrink domestic flying by shifting to smaller jets on certain routes, that’s harder to do with international flights, where they have fewer planes capable of long-haul trips.
Standard & Poor’s airline equities analyst Jim Corridore said international flights are being cut now because airlines pared domestic schedules last year.
The Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
