United Airlines to Start New Service Between Orange County and Honolulu

United Airlines today announced it will start new service between Orange County, Calif. and Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

It’s part of the airline’s announcement involving new direct flights to coastal vacation destinations in time for the Memorial Day weekend.

In May, United will begin offering United Premium Plus® service on select Hawaiʻi routes, which includes a bigger, more comfortable seat and a complimentary meal. United Premium Plus will be available for customers traveling to Honolulu and Maui from Chicago and Denver and will be expanded in June to flights between Chicago and Kona, Houston and Honolulu, and New York/Newark and Maui.

United offers more than 200 weekly flights in the islands. The airline allows customers with valid negative COVID-19 tests to pre-clear before departing to Hawaiʻi so they can save time and skip document screening lines upon arrival in the islands.

As more travelers begin to plan long-awaited getaways with family and friends, United Airlines is kicking off summer vacation season with a robust May schedule that includes the addition of 26 new nonstop routes between Midwest cities such as Cleveland, Cincinnati and Milwaukee and popular vacation destinations such as Hilton Head, S.C.; Pensacola, Fla.; and Portland, Maine.

In addition to the new point-to-point service, United will resume 20 domestic flights to popular destinations and introduce three new domestic routes. This new nonstop service includes flights between Houston and Kalispell, Mont.; Washington, D.C. and Bozeman, Mont.; and between Chicago and Nantucket, Mass. Overall, United plans to operate 58 percent of its domestic schedule compared to May 2019.

Internationally, in May United will fly more than 100 percent of its pre-pandemic schedule to Latin America compared to what it operated in 2019, including more flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. The airline also plans to resume flights between Chicago and Tokyo Haneda, resume passenger flights between New York/Newark and Milan and Rome, and restart service between Chicago and Amsterdam. In total, United plans to operate 52 percent of its overall schedule compared to May 2019, whereas in May 2020 United operated 14 percent of its overall schedule compared to May 2019.

“In the past few weeks, we have seen the strongest flight bookings since the start of the pandemic,” said Ankit Gupta, vice president of United’s domestic network planning and scheduling. “As we rebuild our schedule to meet that demand, adding in seasonal point-to-point flying is just one of the ways we are finding opportunities to add new and exciting service. And as we have done throughout the entire pandemic, we will continue being nimble and strategic with our network to add the right service to the destinations our customers want to visit.”