13 New Routes In 4 Days: Where United Airlines, Delta & American Fly Now

Published May 14, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough University and Cranfield University, James has a PhD in airline strategy. James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. He taught airline strategy and economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students for five years and has worked closely with multiple carriers on route and market intelligence projects. He is based near London, UK. The so-called US Big Three operators are American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. According to Cirium Diio data, they will collectively operate six in ten of the US's flights this year. With 58% of the trio's services being on small aircraft, their regional units are critical for network breadth and frequency. An examination was conducted on American, Delta, and United's full schedules between January 1, 2025, and May 15, 2026. This was then compared to what is available from May 16 to May 22, 2026. The carriers will collectively launch or resume 13 routes in this period, all of which will begin on May 16, 20, 21, or 22. They include eight long-haul services, some of which are bound to make the weekly celebratory new routes article (see this week's edition). United Will Begin These Six Routes Credit: Shutterstock On May 21, the Star Alliance member will begin or reintroduce five routes. They are Washington Dulles to Keflavik (daily Boeing 757-200); Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Alexandria (two daily SkyWest CRJ200) and Hartford (daily 737-700, 737-800, 737-900/900ER); Los Angeles to Missoula (up to daily; SkyWest Embraer E175); and Denver to Fort Dodge (daily; SkyWest CRJ200). The next day, it'll take off from Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to Cody (weekly Skywest E175), which is a gateway to Yellowstone National Park. This will be United's second destination in Wyoming from its Illinois hub. This route comes despite the Federal Aviation Administration imposing a flight limit on ORD's activity to reduce delays during the summer. This has seen United, in particular, cutting many flights. Cirium indicates that five of the routes have been served by United before. The link to Missoula was part of the airline's vast network until 2019, followed by Cody, which was served from ORD until 2021. Services from the stated hubs to Alexandria, Fort Dodge, and Hartford all last saw United in 2022. The sole exception is Dulles to Keflavik, which will perhaps materialize, in part, because of the now-defunct PLAY pulling out in 2024. United will have three routes to Iceland for the first time. Related American Will Start These Four Routes Credit: Shutterstock On May 21, American will launch or resume four long-haul airport pairs, which is more than its fellow US Big Three competitors. It'll recommence service from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), which is obviously its busy hub, to Zurich (daily 777-200ER). It last flew this route in 2007, when the now-retired 767-300ER was used. On the same day, it'll inaugurate a never-before-served market: DFW to Athens (daily 777-200ER/777-300ER). It is always good to see brand-new airport pairs being served for the first time. American only started flying to Athens a decade ago. It will now have a record five routes to the capital of Greece. Frequency DFW To Athens; Local Times* Athens To DFW; Local Times** Daily 4:00 PM-11:45 AM+1 2:00 PM-7:00 PM * In August ** In August The new service to Greece reflects the continuing strong demand for travel to Southern Europe. When all airlines are combined, Cirium shows that Greece will have 1.7 million seats for sale to/from the US in 2026, exceeding the prior record by 1%. Capacity has jumped by 123% versus before the pandemic in 2019. Also on May 21, American will reintroduce flights from the ex-US Airways hub of Philadelphia to Budapest (787-8) and Prague (daily 787-8). Both cities in Central and Eastern Europe were last part of the carrier's network in 2019. Budapest is the most notable market, as it will once again have nonstop flights to the US. Funnily enough, Delta's top long-haul route by simple load factor is New York JFK to Prague. Simple Flying Quiz Delta Will Begin These Three Routes Credit: Shutterstock Then there's SkyTeam's largest airline. On May 16, Delta will begin the first ever service from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Nice (three weekly A330-300). This comes shortly after the airline began flying from BOS to Madrid, and a few days after JetBlue took off from BOS to Italy for the first time. The most 'exotic' route will begin on May 20, when Delta will introduce the first scheduled service from North America to Sardinia, Italy. It'll fly from New York JFK to Olbia (four weekly 767-300ER). Finally, on May 21, Delta will take off for Porto, Portugal's second most populous city, for the first time, with flights from JFK (four weekly 767-300ER). Booking data shows that 65,000 passengers flew between the US and Sardinia last year, with New York inevitably being the largest city market (it had 26% of the traffic). Delta will grow this volume with new nonstop flights and hopefully strong promotions. But to help mitigate the risk, the link will, of course, be underpinned by significant financial and other incentives and agreements. Many new long-haul routes are supported in this way.