10 Flights A Day: Inside United Airlines' Huge Frankfurt Airport Schedule
Summary
- United Airlines has 10 daily flights and six routes to Frankfurt this summer
- Routes are from Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles
- In May 2023, United carried 150,232 passengers to/from the German airport
United Airlines has more flights to Frankfurt than any other European airport except London Heathrow. The significance of Frankfurt is that it is a major Star Alliance hub and is the alliance’s largest hub for long-haul flights. United has six routes and 10 daily flights to the German airport. That is the joint-highest frequency to date, but it falls to nine daily this winter as demand reduces.
10 daily Frankfurt flights
United is one of seven passenger carriers between Frankfurt and the US, joining Lufthansa, Condor, Eurowings Discover, Delta, American, and Singapore. With 10 daily services, United is the second-largest operator by flights. Its services have risen from nine daily in September 2022 and 2019 (+11%).
Photo: Markus Mainka I Shutterstock.
United’s network until the end of summer is as follows. All six destinations also see fellow Star Alliance member Lufthansa, which has a matching number of flights. The pair only differ to San Francisco, which United now serves twice daily (daily in winter).
- Chicago O’Hare: double daily
- Newark: double daily
- San Francisco: double daily
- Washington Dulles: double daily
- Denver: daily
- Houston Intercontinental: daily
Image: GCMap.
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Snapshot: September 12th, 2023
As an indication of activity, consider this one specific day for United’s departures from Frankfurt:
- 08:20 to Chicago; UA945, 787-10
- 11:10 to Newark; UA961, 777-300ER
- 11:20 to Denver; UA181, 787-9
- 12:20 to Washington Dulles; UA988, 777-300ER
- 12:45 to Chicago; UA906, 787-10
- 13:55 to Houston; UA47, 777-200ER
- 13:35 to San Francisco; UA59, 777-300ER
- 17:10 to Washington Dulles; UA933, 777-200ER
- 17:25 to Newark; UA75, 767-400ER (shown below)
- 17:30 to San Francisco; UA927, 777-300ER
Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock
What about Los Angeles?
Los Angeles was the only other route United had from Frankfurt in the past 20 years. Cirium indicates that it existed between December 2007 and October 2008. According to the US DOT T-100, it carried 134,132 passengers with a seat load factor of 83.7%.
Then United’s longest Frankfurt route, Los Angeles operated daily using the Boeing 777-200ER. Combined with Lufthansa, they had double daily winter flights and triple daily service in the summer.
Analysis: May 2023
The most recent month to which I have access to T-100 data is May 2023. That month, the DOT says United carried 150,232 passengers to/from Frankfurt – more than 4,800 daily. San Francisco had the most passengers (31,227), and Houston the least (14,297). Denver filled more seats (94.3%), and Chicago the fewest (78.4%).
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying.
When related to booking data, approximately 36% of United’s May passengers connected to destinations over Frankfurt with Lufthansa. About 24% were point-to-point (they only flew to/from Frankfurt), 20% transited to other places over United’s US hubs, and 20% connected in both the US and Frankfurt.
Looking at San Francisco-Frankfurt as an example, nearly half of passengers (about 48%) transited in the German hub, with Italy the largest country market. Approximately 30% were P2P, 13% connected in San Fran, and 10% of passengers transited to other flights in both hubs.
Will you be flying United to/from Frankfurt soon? If so, let us know in the comments.
Sources of information: Cirium, Google Flights, US DOT T-100, booking data.
