dailynewsnblog
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines play a critical role between the US and Europe. In the all-important Q3 2026 (July-September), which has the highest demand and fares, they collectively plan 269 departures daily. They will have 43.3% of the enormous market.
They are the top three airlines operating from the North Atlantic to Europe. Their dominance is hardly surprising. After all, they each serve the continent from multiple US hubs, while European carriers ordinarily operate from one hub, as that’s all they usually have. And the so-called US Big Three serve large numbers of cities across Europe.
American, Delta, And United Plan Their Best Summer Yet
The figure above illustrates how the trio’s departures to Europe have varied in this most important of quarters in the past 20+ years. It is based on their schedule submissions to Cirium Diio. As of February 13, they plan a record 269 daily departures in Q3 2026. Their collective offering has risen marginally year-over-year (+1.4%), and is up by 17.6% compared to before the pandemic in Q3 2019.
Narrowbodies have played a role in this development. However, they’ll only have 20 daily departures; fewer than one in 14 services will be on them. Still, their deployment will be at the highest level since before the pandemic. The 757-200 remains overwhelmingly the most-used single-aisle equipment, far outstripping the 737 MAX 8 and the Airbus A321XLR. Only one US-operated XLR transatlantic service is due this year, which is American from New York JFK to Edinburgh. In 2027, the carrier plans to fly the variant to Porto.
Compared to Q3 2025, the US Big Three have added four additional daily departures. In comparison, European carriers have added 14 (+2.4%). As such, American, Delta, and United’s collective share has fallen to 43.3%, only marginally above what they had before COVID-19 temporarily changed the world.
United Has Cut Summer Flights
Examining every European route shows that American plans 71 daily departures in Q3 (plus three year-over-year), Delta has scheduled 95 (plus one), and United plans 103 (minus one). While minimal, United’s decrease is notable. Still, it will be the Star Alliance member’s second-best Q3 on record.
United’s reduction is perhaps more notable because of its highly creative approach to network planning. After all, it’ll begin flying to Bari, Santiago de Compostela, and Split in 2026 while resuming service to Glasgow. However, it has removed Stockholm from its network, which was the longest transatlantic 757-operated flight. It would have been the world’s longest 757 service in the summer.
United’s decline is only partly because it will no longer serve the Swedish capital, although it’ll be very easy to reach with codeshare and alliance partners. Instead, it is the accumulation of multiple cuts to still-served airports. Changes include Geneva (-28.3% flights), Brussels (-25.0%), Edinburgh (-23.5%), Athens (-10.7%), and Frankfurt (-6.1%).
|
Airline |
Daily Departures To Europe: Q3 2026* |
Routes In Q3 2026** |
|---|---|---|
|
American |
71 |
62 |
|
Delta |
95 |
81 |
|
United |
103 |
85 |
|
* Averaged across the full quarter. Known as of February 13, and subject to change |
** Known as of February 13, and subject to change |
Only 26% Full: The US’s 10 Emptiest International Routes Revealed
The US’s international aviation landscape is riddled with underperforming routes, although reasons exist for some of them…
What United Has Cut
Comparing the carrier’s European network in Q3 2025 to what is planned in the same three months in 2026 shows that only United’s Newark to Stockholm route has been removed. However, the overall year-on-year reduction in departures is also because of frequency cuts to various still-served routes.
For example, Newark-Edinburgh will now be served daily (757-200), down from two daily in 2025, due to the return of Glasgow flights. Newark-Brussels is now daily (787-10), down from two daily. Newark-Athens is now daily (mainly 787-10), down from 10 weekly. Newark-Frankfurt is now daily (777-300ER), down from 11 weekly. Washington Dulles-Geneva is now three weekly (767-300ER), down from daily.
Those reductions, and some other changes, were partly offset by additional routes from Newark to Bari, Glasgow, Santiago de Compostela, and Split, along with Washington Dulles to Keflavik. United will now have 48.3% more services to Iceland in Q3, joining existing routes from Chicago O’Hare and Newark.
