As part of its efforts to stand out from competitors Delta Air Lines (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL) by moving into destinations where the latter two carriers do not fly, Chicago-based United Airlines (UAL) has, in the last year, launched a number of flights to exotic destinations with limited direct service from the U.S.
The airline just shared that it will bring back its flight between Newark Liberty (EWR) and Nuuk International Airport (GOH) in Greenland for the 2026 summer season. In addition, new destinations launched this year include routes from different cities to Bilbao in Spain, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and Madeira in Portugal.
Some of these flights will run year-round, while others are seasonal destinations for times of the year when they are calculated to be most popular. Most recently, United unveiled new winter flights from Houston to Guatemala City and San Salvador, as well as one new weekly flight from the city to Pedro Sula in northwest Honduras.
The United Airlines flight to Papeete, Tahiti, to run weekly in summer 2026
As first spotted by aviation tracker Aero Routes, United Airlines has also recently filed intent to increase its flights between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Faaʼa International Airport (PPT) in Tahiti by the summer of 2026.
The flight to the Tahitian capital of Papeete launched in October 2018 and currently runs five times a week throughout the year on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner widebody jet.
United Airlines had initially run the route as a seasonal flight during the colder months, but eventually expanded it to five times a week year-round by March 2019.
Related: Another airline cancels New York-Paris flight due to low demand
“We are thrilled to extend this exciting flight to a year-round schedule,” then-Senior Vice President of Global Market Janet Lamkin said in a statement. “For Californians and our customers connecting through San Francisco, this route offers an escape to a little corner of paradise.”
At the time it was launched, the route was also designed to connect a market looking to reach Tahiti from Europe and Middle Eastern countries such as Israel. United has not yet formally confirmed or commented on the upped frequency.
In the seven years since, tourism to Tahiti from North America initially nosedived amid the drop in travel during the Covid pandemic. It’s now rising quickly in the period of prolonged post-pandemic resurgence.
Image source: Shutterstock
As Tahiti tourist interest increases, many look for less painful way to get there
The approximately 62,000 passengers who came to the largest island making up French Polynesia in 2024 by cruise ship set a new record for Tahiti, while the 263,766 international arrivals in 2024 total just under the 300,000 number recorded pre-pandemic in 2019.
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The isolation of the island in the South Pacific is the primary reason few travelers ever make it there. Flights from the West Coast of the United States typically take approximately nine hours.
Even more extreme, the 16-hour flight between Paris and Papeete that Air Tahiti Nui ran for a short period of time in 2020 holds the record of the longest domestic flight in the world, as it traversed 9,765 miles or 15,715 kilometers to get from metropolitan France to its Polynesian territory.
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Related: American Airlines to launch new flight to popular cruise destination
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