United Airlines is the US’ second-largest provider of international flights. In 2025, Cirium Diio shows that it inaugurated approximately 30 new and returning international routes. Some of these were extraordinary in their unusualness, such as Newark to Nuuk, Greenland.

Since the pandemic, the Star Alliance member has been highly creative in some of its network development. It has added routes to multiple ‘different’ places, with Ulaanbaatar, served from its Tokyo Narita hub, another example of this. United added 24 new and returning international destinations in 2025, with more intriguing new routes coming in 2026.

United Began Greenland Flights In June

Greenland is getting a lot of attention from the US, and in more ways than one. On June 14, 2025, in time for the peak summer, United took off from its Newark hub to Nuuk. It became the first US airline to fly to Greenland. Coincidentally or not, the June 14 launch date coincided with Donald Trump’s birthday. Served twice-weekly, the brand-new route covered 1,616 nautical miles (2,993 km) each way and utilized the 166-seat Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Some 30 round-trip services existed, with 9,960 available seats. Yet, the US Department of Transportation shows it did very poorly, and it surely must have been well below the airline’s projections. Of course, routes sometimes take time to develop, especially brand-new ones to never-served-before destinations, but still. It is notable.

Nuuk is the capital of the vast but famously sparsely populated nation. While Greenland is geographically in North America, it is European in culture and nature, influenced by being part of Denmark. The route’s launch was driven, in part, by Nuuk’s runway extension, new terminal, and other infrastructure development. Before that materialized, longer routes flew from Kangerlussuaq. This included Air Greenland’s very short-lived service to Baltimore in 2007.

Only Had A 51% Load Factor To Nuuk

In the first season, the US DOT shows that United carried 4,869 passengers to/from Nuuk and filled just 51% of the available seats. Perhaps it did unusually well for fares and yields; data on those things will be available later.

The DOT shows it filled 52% of seats in June, 51% in July, 61% in August, and just 41% in September. While an unfair comparison, the airline’s average international seat load factor between June and September was 84%.

Nearly two-thirds of its Newark-Nuuk passengers traveled in the two utterly critical peak summer months of July and August. But even in the most-trafficked month of August, a huge number of seats remained unsold.

Out of the 166 seats available per flight, only 101 were sold on average in August. In September, that was reduced to just 68 seats. Ouch. Unless meaningful subsidies are involved or that the route is of strategic importance to the US, it’d be fair to conclude that it might not exist for long.

What Is The Plan For 2026?

United will resume the seasonal link this year. Flights will leave Newark between June 6 and September 22, taking off a week earlier than last year. It will continue to operate to Greenland on Tuesdays and Saturdays and from the nation on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Despite the brand-new market’s very poor first season, United will have 32 round-trip services in 2026, with 7% more seats for sale than last year. Will it perform better in 2026? If it does not, expect changes, whether the route’s cessation or a shorter operating period. For example, United operated between Newark and Stockholm from June 5 to August 31 last year, but this route has now been cut.