The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is the most popular variant of the 737 MAX among the roughly 2,200 aircraft delivered and 4,848 ordered for the family. It is a touch smaller than the 737 MAX 9 with a slightly higher range. That makes it suitable for unique missions that demand a narrowbody aircraft capable of reliably flying exceptionally far, where the market is small enough to make a widebody inappropriate. When this jet entered United’s fleet in 2024, the airline was not pushing the boundaries of its capabilities, using it primarily for domestic aviation.

Yet, a glance at data procured by Simple Flying on the longest United Airlines 737 MAX 8 routes scheduled for 2026 indicates that, although domestic flights continue to dominate, the carrier is becoming more imaginative in its use of this aircraft. That includes more transatlantic flights and trips to Central and South America. Read on for a full breakdown of the data and how the carrier’s use of its MAX 8s compares to where it flies its MAX 9s.

United’s Longest 737 MAX 8 Routes

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The Boeing 737 MAX represented a significant step forward for narrowbody aircraft, with both its impressive size and range. The 737 MAX 8 can fly 4,028 miles (6,480 km). United Airlines gets close to the safe limit on a number of both domestic and international routes. The longest are from the East Coast to Anchorage in Alaska. The carrier will fly from Newark to Anchorage 112 times in 2026, a journey averaging 3,369 miles. The 3,356-mile route from Anchorage to Washington is slightly shorter and is set to be flown 119 times by the carrier.

The next longest route is into Central America. An example is the 3,320-mile flight from Panama City to San Francisco Airport, although the carrier is scheduled to fly this route only five times in 2026, with just 830 seats available. Slightly shorter routes to the South are to Guyana and Costa Rica.

The table below shows a full breakdown of the top ten United Airlines 737 MAX 8 routes in 2026 by average length. It uses data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Please note that most of these routes have equivalent return legs, but they are not shown in the table.

Far more common are transatlantic routes that make use of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The carrier will fly from Newark to Glasgow International Airport, Scotland, 169 times in 2026, a 3,229-mile route. Another example is the over 50 flights to Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport in Galicia, Spain. This route is 3,310 miles long on average.

Pushing Range Limits With Washington To Anchorage

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The second-longest United Airlines 737 MAX 8 flight is the 2,916-nautical-mile or 3,356-mile trip from Washington to Anchorage International Airport. This flight takes an astounding 7 hours and 44 minutes. That’s a long time to be sitting in a narrowbody aircraft, especially for the 96 seats in regular economy. The aircraft layout used for this route when it was introduced included 16 first-class and 54 Economy Plus seats.

United Airlines inaugurated the flight on May 23, 2024. The carrier initially planned to operate a daily round trip during the summer of 2024. Demand was clearly sufficient for the carrier to keep it open with a relatively high frequency. When introduced, the flight was the 15th-longest nonstop in the United Airlines fleet.

Prior to the introduction of this route, the city pair was not served by any non-stop flights. However, the market data indicated strong demand. Outside of summer, the route had approximately 30 passengers daily each way (PDEW), rising to about 53 PDEW between June and August.

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Until now, the airport pair didn’t have non-stop flights.

Some Of The Long Transatlantic Routes Are New

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2026 has been a year in which United Airlines has been using the 737 MAX 8 to enter new markets, some of which are incredibly long routes for a narrowbody aircraft to undertake. New nonstop routes include flights from Newark Liberty International Airport to Glasgow, Scotland, and Santiago de Compostela. The introduction of these routes into United’s 737 MAX network indicates confidence that the aircraft is suitable for East Coast transatlantic flights, with sufficient capacity to meet demand. The configuration used for these missions is noteworthy for the absence of lie-flat first-class seating. Instead, these jets will be relatively high-capacity for a 737 MAX 8 offering just economy and Economy Plus. Such a move is noteworthy in an industry that is forever seeking to offer premium products.

Although the routes are new, Glasgow is not new in the purest sense. Before the global pandemic, United offered a service to Scotland’s second city, halting the route in 2019. 2026 marks its return. We can expect this route to nicely complement United Airlines’ ongoing service to Edinburgh.

The 737 MAX 8 network expansion sits alongside a broader expansion into the European leisure market. The carrier will serve higher-demand destinations, including Split, Croatia, and Bari, Italy, using the Boeing 767-300ER. These aircraft will offer premium products, namely Polaris business class. Meanwhile, the 737 MAX expansion will marginalize certain older aircraft in United’s fleet. For example, the Boeing 757 will now be primarily used internationally for lower-demand destinations.

2026 Marks A Shift In How United Is Using Its 737 MAX 8s

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United Airlines first received its 737 MAX 9s in April 2018. MAX 9s followed six years later. These aircraft flew 145,000 flights using the jet in 2025. During this early phase of operations, United primarily used it for domestic routes. Examples included New York LaGuardia Airport–Denver, Newark–Boston, Denver–San Diego, and Newark–Miami. International routes tended to stick to Latin America and Canada. Destinations featured included Guatemala City, Bogotá, Mexico City, Calgary, and Vancouver. Meanwhile, transatlantic routes were fairly limited, with flights to Funchal and Ponta Delgada among the notable examples.

The table below uses Cirium data to show the current state of United’s 737 fleet, along with the orders across various types, therefore showing the MAX 8’s position within it:

Yet, the 2026 schedule includes new entries for a number of transatlantic routes using the 737 MAX 8, leveraging the aircraft’s impressive range to serve relatively low-demand destinations across the pond. The jet’s attributes allow it to conduct such services at comparatively low operating and environmental costs. Although the frequency of these routes still can’t match that of the shorter domestic hops, it could indicate a gradual shift in strategy for how United is using the 737 MAX 8.

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Where Does United Fly Its 737 MAX 9s?

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United has more Boeing 737 MAX 9s than MAX 8s and more on order, while certification delays for the MAX 10 mean the larger variant has yet to arrive in the fleet. Cirium data reveals that the carrier scheduled 110,000 flights using the aircraft in 2025. The primary use of this type is domestic routes. In November 2025, the carrier scheduled flights using the aircraft 10,000 times, with domestic routes having the highest frequency.

In November 2025, the carrier scheduled 124 one-way seats from Los Angeles to Houston Intercontinental, offering passengers a total of 22,196 seats. Another incredibly frequent flight involving the MAX 9 and Houston was to San Francisco. United scheduled 116 such flights in November 2025, totaling 20,764 seats. Other destinations frequently served by United’s 737 MAX 9s included Raleigh/Durham, Chicago, Washington Dulles, Newark, and Orlando.

Just two international flights were listed in the top ten most frequent United routes using the 737 MAX 9 in November 2025. The first was from Houston Intercontinental to Cancun in Mexico, an absurdly popular tourist destination for young Americans. United served this route 120 times, for a total of 21,480 seats, making it the second-most frequent flight listed. The other was from Newark to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ranking ninth on the list, this route was served 85 times, totaling 15,215 seats. It was ahead only of Orlando to San Francisco, a route with 82 occurrences in November 2025, yielding 14,678 seats.