United Airlines recently announced they are reducing their capacity between Australia and America in the upcoming peak season. This comes after cutting flights between Los Angeles and Brisbane for the peak season earlier this year.

What is changing?

The proposed cuts will be taking place over the peak holiday season from October 2024 until late March 2025.

• San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney (SYD) was planned to operate twice daily throughout the winter season, but the second daily flight will now only operate from December 20, 2024, through March 5, 2025. During that time it will be 4 times a week, but will be downgraded from a 777-300ER to a 777-200ER
• San Francisco (SFO) to Melbourne (MEL) was planned to be operated by a 777-300ER, but has been downgraded to a 787-9
• Los Angeles (LAX) to Melbourne (MEL) was supposed to operate daily in November 2024, but has been reduced to three times a week
• The Houston (IAH) to Sydney (SYD) route was supposed to operate daily in November and December 2024, but has been reduced to three times a week during that period. It will remain daily for the rest of the season.

Why Has United Airlines Made These Changes Now?

In 2023 United Airlines experimented with a huge expansion into the South Pacific, which at the time meant the airline was flying the biggest schedule in the area. For United Airlines the expansion was an obvious move, as during the American summer it is very profitable for them to fly their bigger planes across the pacific.

However, during the winter months when Americans have less vacation time, it is harder for United Airlines to operate bigger premium cabins. There are a few reasons for this, the biggest is that Australians traveling to America are mostly leisure oriented. This means it’s often more profitable for United Airlines to operate flights to Europe.

What About Other Airlines?

Compared to Delta and American Airlines, United Airlines still has the largest presence in Australia. American and Delta both offer two routes between the US and Australia - one year round and one seasonal. Whereas United has a total of six routes, with five being year-round and one being seasonal.

• United flies year-round between Los Angeles (LAX) and Melbourne (MEL), Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD), San Francisco (SFO) and Brisbane (BNE), San Francisco (SFO) and Melbourne (MEL), San Francisco (SFO) and Sydney (SYD), and seasonally between Houston (IAH) and Sydney (SYD)
• American flies year-round between Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD), while the airline is launching a seasonal route between Dallas (DFW) and Brisbane (BNE)
• Delta flies year-round between Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD), while the airline is launching a seasonal route between Los Angeles (LAX) and Brisbane (BNE)

What Does This Mean For Travel To The United States?

Compared to the 23/24 peak season when United operated its biggest schedule between the US and Australia (at one point offering more flights than Qantas), the drop in United flights will not affect Australians too much. This is due to the airline still offering more routes out of Australia than American Airlines and Delta.

As Europe increases in popularity we can expect more cuts to take place if airlines continue to see more profit in other areas of the world.

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