United Airlines is adding 25,000 flights despite surging coronavirus cases across the US

• United Airlines will add 25,000 flights to its schedule for August, as travel demand continues to climb despite outbreaks in states across the US.
• The airline will fly 40% of its overall schedule — 48% of its domestic schedule, and 25% of its international flights.
• The schedule also includes flights to several cities in the European Union, despite a ban on American travelers due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus in the US.

United Airlines said on Wednesday that it would add 25,000 flights to its schedule for August, betting on a stronger second half of the summer travel season even as the pandemic shows no signs of abating.

The announcement comes as airlines have seen demand start to return after hitting record-lows in March and April as the pandemic spread. As states have begun to reopen, leisure demand from quarantine-weary Americans has led to a gradual climb in air traffic numbers beginning in May.

Despite the positive signs, most of the demand has been for domestic travel. Experts expect international demand to resume more slowly, as various quarantine orders, border restrictions, and travel bans remain in effect.

The increase in flights for August means that United will fly about 40% of its total schedule compared to August 2019. That includes 48% of its domestic schedule compared to the same month in 2019, up from 30% in July. The airline will fly 25% of its international schedule, up from 16% in July. For comparison, the airline flew just 10% of the previous year's schedule in April 2020, as the pandemic worsened.

The international schedule will include several destinations in the European Union, despite the bloc's ban on American residents due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the US. The airline will resume service from Chicago to Brussels, Belgium, and Frankfurt, German; and from New York's Newark Airport to Brussels, Munich, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland. United will also resume service from San Francisco to London, and following regulatory approval, to Delhi, India.

On the domestic front, the airline will add about 350 daily flights from its US hubs, focusing on destinations with mountain and national park destinations, including Bangor, Maine; Bozeman, Montana; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

"We're taking the same data-driven, realistic approach to growing our schedule as we did in drawing it down at the start of the pandemic," Ankit Gupta, United's vice president of domestic network planning, said in a press release. "Demand is coming back slowly and we're building in enough capacity to stay ahead of the number of people traveling. And we're adding in flights to places we know customers want to travel to, like outdoor recreation destinations where social distancing is easier but doing so in a way that's flexible and allows us to adjust should that demand change."

Despite the airline industry's optimism over summer travel demand, there are questions about whether it will be sustained in September when the traditional summer travel season ends. Business travel shows no signs of a meaningful recovery anytime soon, and outbreaks in states across the US, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, and Georgia, could lead to further lockdowns.