Facing competitors Delta (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL) in Atlanta and Dallas, United Airlines (UAL) has long positioned itself as the cross-country airline.
Its main hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and secondary hubs in Denver and Houston make it a good choice for those traveling to smaller cities and needing to transfer when going coast to coast.
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United's new flights from Denver include long-haul to Rome
In a push to expand its Denver network, the carrier just unveiled eight flights out of the city starting in the spring.
Six are domestic routes to cities including Buffalo, N.Y., Pensacola, Fla., and Peoria, Ill. Also: to Redding, Calif., and North Bend, Ore. And a weekly flight to Wilmington, N.C., will depart on Saturdays as of May 24.
United Air also will begin two international flights from Denver. One is to Regina, Saskatchewan, and the other is a flashy new route to Rome-Fiumicino Airport (FCO).
The Rome flight is targeting the higher numbers of summer tourists as well as those generally looking to get to Europe from Denver directly. The seasonal route will run between May 1 and September 24 on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (BA) .
Related: There could soon be more flights to Iceland from Denver and Nashville
"As Denver’s hometown airline, we’re proud to offer more destinations than any other carrier, giving Colorado residents and travelers passing through Denver unmatched flexibility and options to explore the destinations they want to visit most," Jonna McGrath, vice president of United’s Denver hub, said in a media statement first reported by Travel + Leisure.
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The new routes bring United to running a milestone 160 international and 20 domestic flights out of Denver.
These other airlines are putting Denver on their radar for 2025
A number of other, and not just U.S.-based, airlines have also seen market interest in launching new routes from Denver.
Icelandair's director for North America, Grimur Gislason, recently said in an interview that the airline was considering Denver along with Nashville as the cities it should turn into hubs for its new codeshare with Southwest Airlines (LUV) .
The partnership is meant to connect Icelandair to the southwestern U.S. for easier transfers as well as to enable travelers to smaller destinations that the airline doesn't serve to book through its website.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines (FRON) , meanwhile, recently said it was suspending more than 40 flights to shed anything not bringing in the expected profit.
While the most-affected cities include Dallas-Fort Worth and Raleigh-Durham, Frontier is also cutting flights between Denver International Airport (DEN) and Columbus in Ohio, Grand Rapids in Michigan as well as New York's Syracuse and LaGuardia Airports.
At the same time, it has also started its first-ever service between Denver and Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in Vail, Colo., twice a week along with new routes from Dallas and San Francisco. The Denver-Vail flight will take just a few minutes over an hour — not enough time for the attendants to break out the beverage cart.
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