United Airlines has revealed a raft of major changes to its schedules for the upcoming 2025 / 2026 winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. The carrier is adding flights to a grand total of 15 cities this winter, and, while much of this extra capacity will be deployed domestically, there is also an international flavor.
With other major American carriers facing various struggles at present, United is also using its boosted winter schedules as a means of offering extra capacity, should it need to capitalize on passengers from other US airlines needing fresh options. Let’s take a look at the key facts and figures surrounding this growth.
United’s International Boosts
On the international side of things, United Airlines is targeting routes to destinations in and around Central America from its Texan hub at 
Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) as far as this growth is concerned. From here, it is adding extra flights to Guatemala City (GUA), San Salvador (SAL), and San Pedro Sula (SAL) as it looks to capitalize on strong leisure demand in the winter.
As detailed in the table below, Guatemala City and San Salvador will benefit from three additional flights a week from Houston, while San Pedro Sula will see one extra flight per week added to its schedule. According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, United presently serves the first two destinations 21 times a week, while the latter sees 14 weekly rotations, all using Boeing 737 family aircraft.
|
United Airlines’ Additional International Flights From Houston |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Origin |
Destination |
Distance |
Extra Frequencies |
|
Houston |
Guatemala City |
1,106 miles (1,780 km) |
3x weekly |
|
Houston |
San Salvador |
1,103 miles (1,775 km) |
3x weekly |
|
Houston |
San Pedro Sula |
1,207 miles (1,942.5 km) |
1x weekly |
The Airline Will See Domestic Growth As It Looks To Cover Other Carriers’ Issues
United Airlines’ additional flights from Houston to the three aforementioned South American destinations will commence on January 6, as will its schedule boosts on certain domestic routes out of this Texan hub. Specifically, Orlando, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Miami will all see an extra daily round trip from this facility. Patrick Quayle, United’s SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances, said:
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business, it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them.”
Elsewhere in the US, the winter boosts will see United add an extra daily round trip from Chicago to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, and Las Vegas, Newark to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Furthermore, its Newark hub will also play host to the launch of two brand-new domestic routes this winter, with these serving Columbia (South Carolina) and Chattanooga (Tennessee).
In order to allow as many passengers as possible to reap the rewards of its winter schedule boosts, United Airlines is also adding flights between some of its major hubs. These include Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and the carrier will also “fly larger aircraft between Chicago (ORD) and New York 
LaGuardia Airport” (LGA).
United’s January 2026 Schedules In A Nutshell
With these boosts locked and loaded, it’s certainly fair to say that United Airlines has big plans for January of 2026. Cirium data shows that it has penciled in 144,632 flights that month, offering around 18.64 million seats and 27.16 billion ASMs.
Compared to the 135,342 flights, 17.49 million seats, and 25.23 billion available seat miles that it achieved in January of 2025, these totals represent respective increases of 6.9%, 6.5%, and 7.7%. Among the manufacturers whose aircraft serve United’s flights, Bombardier has the biggest jump, with 16.1% more flights.
Bombardier isn’t, however, the main manufacturer when it comes to the raw number of United Airlines flights planned for January 2026. That honor falls to Boeing, with 66,425, followed by Embraer, on 37,925, Bombardier, on 22,262, and Airbus, on 18,020. As far as the split of domestic and international flying is concerned, 123,077 of United’s January flights will be internal, with 21,455 serving foreign airports.
