United Rejects Commoditisation and
Embraces Differentiation — October 2023

United Airlines is the third largest airline in the USA behind Delta and American, but it has the highest exposure to international and long haul markets: pre-pandemic its two Legacy rivals generated 28-30% of their turnover from their international operations, while United produced 40% of its revenues internationally.

In 2022, the force of pent-up air travel demand in the recovery from the pandemic led to strong domestic and short haul international traffic. In the current year that has switched strongly to demand for international services playing nicely into United’s portfolio of routes.