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United Adds Flights to Cape Town to Meet Increased Demand

Chidozie Uzoezie
Dec 18, 2025
2 min read

United’s passenger bookings from Cape Town to the U.S. have increased by 7% during the South African summer holiday travel season (December 18 – January 6) compared to the same period last year.

To meet the increased demand, United increased service between Cape Town and New York/Newark from three to four-weekly flights during the peak holiday period.

For travellers heading abroad over the holiday period from South Africa, the most popular U.S. destinations on United’s network include New York/Newark, Washington D.C. and Chicago.

United launched its Cape Town-Newark service in 2019 and added its Cape Town-Washington DC service in 2022. The service is operated by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Since 2021 United has also added routes to Johannesburg, Accra, Lagos, Dakar and Marrakesh, giving it a significant footprint on the continent.

U.S. Originating Travel Forecast over the Dec-Jan holiday season:

United expects to fly about 10.3 million people between December 18 to January 6 – the most passengers it has ever flown over the Dec-Jan holiday travel season.
On average, it expects to fly almost 520,000 passengers and operate around 4,700 flights a day.
The busiest travel day is expected after Christmas: approximately 560,000 passengers are expected to fly with us on Saturday, Dec. 27.
It’s most popular international destinations for travel from the US are Cancun, London and Frankfurt.
And its most popular US domestic New Year’s Eve destinations are Orlando, Las Vegas and Honolulu.
This holiday travel period follows United’s busiest Thanksgiving holiday season ever, where the airline also posted its highest ever customer satisfaction (NPS) score for the month of November.

Travel Tips and Hacks:

The United app saves travelers up to 30 minutes:

On-demand customer service help via text, chat or video call.

Auto rebooking options if travel is disrupted.

Real-time bag tracking.

Connections made easy: turn-by-turn directions, estimated walk times, live flight status, notifications when the plane is held for a few extra minutes.

Festive Fun Facts:

Get into the holiday spirit onboard by watching holiday favorites like Love Actually, It’s A Wonderful Life and The Holiday.

ICYMI: United debuted a mini movie with Hallmark called “Miles Apart” (think rekindled romance, onboard friendships and holiday magic) - catch it on your next flight or watch it here.

A festive twist on an inflight fan favorite – United is serving Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry onboard for a limited time.

And for travelers 21 years and older, we’re offering our signature Sleigh Bell Spritz (Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry + Tito’s Vodka, topped with a cranberry garnish) through the holiday period.