Here’s Why United Is Sending a Boeing 737 MAX to a Random Atlantic Island

United Airlines innovates its long-distance network in ways its competitors do not. This article appeared shortly after United announced a major international expansion in 2027, including many destinations not yet served by any other U.S. airline. Meanwhile, the carrier has been doing this for years, adding services to destinations that many observers didn’t even expect because of how left-field the choices sometimes seemed.

In the summer of 2025, United launched a new route from its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Madeira Airport (FNC). FNC is known as one of the most unusual airports in the world due to its runway design and unique approach, but otherwise it is only the fourth largest airport in Portugal. United serves Madeira seasonally with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, and the route returns for the 2026 summer season. That’s why it exists today.

United Services Madeira

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United operates nonstop flights between EWR and FNC during the summer season, with flights operating from May 16 to September 22. Flights operate three times a week, departing from EWR on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. United uses a 166-seater Boeing 737 MAX 8 On this route, the outbound flight is numbered UA 522 and the return flight is numbered UA 523. The flight time is blocked at six hours and 50 minutes for UA 522, and UA 523 is blocked at seven hours and 30 minutes.

Madeira is well known among enthusiasts for its unusual approach, having previously been flown primarily by European pilots but now being flown by Americans as well. If you use the Simple Flying Flight Tracker, you’ll see that each morning UA 522 must fly straight downwind to Runway 05 (the most commonly used runway direction) and then essentially perform a visual circling maneuver before landing below. 1000 feet. This type of procedure, in which pilots manually turn the aircraft 180 degrees to land at low altitudes, is rare in commercial aviation.

Pilots tend to enjoy these types of flights because they challenge the crew’s skills and are unique compared to standard ILS approaches found around the world. While flight crews always put safety first, there is an element of fun in approaches like Madeira’s. Of course, airlines don’t open routes to airports because it’s entertainment for pilots. If United were to launch a route like Newark to Madeira and bring it back in time for the 2026 summer season, that would mean the business case would have to be strong too.

The situation with the United joint venture

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Transatlantic demand from the US to Europe seems virtually limitless, which is why all three US carriers expect new European routes every year. However, United are more liberal. in launching routesdue to its transatlantic joint venture with Lufthansa and Lufthansa Group airlines. In practice, its main European hubs for connections to other European destinations are Frankfurt and Munich. American’s primary transatlantic joint venture partner is British Airways, while Delta’s partners include Air France and KLM.

Typically, American and Delta sell tickets to many of the same destinations that United serves nonstop. Tickets only will include a stopover at Heathrow, Paris or Amsterdam. This is more or less normal because connecting at these airports only adds a few hours to the overall trip, which is usually acceptable to airline loyalists. However, a layover in Germany adds several hours when traveling to destinations in Western Europe or the Atlantic Ocean.

The location of United’s joint venture European hubs means that to remain competitive, it must serve certain destinations in Western Europe non-stop, while its competitors can efficiently funnel passengers through partner airline hubs. Madeira is an extreme example as it is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, but overall this is United’s network strategy for Europe. Of course, there is another important reason why such routes could be valuable to United Airlines.

Strategic value over direct profit

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Operating a route like Newark to Madeira is ultimately not very expensive to operate due to the low operating costs of the 737 MAX 8, but it also won’t generate much revenue. At first glance, you might wonder if the plane makes more money flying to Madeira than flying on another frequency to Fort Lauderdale, Chicago or Boston. But what United Airlines has become quite adept at, thanks in part to its European joint venture agreement, is thinking outside the box.

The Big Three (American, Delta, United) do not generate significant revenue from passenger flights. Instead, their profits come from loyalty programs, where they generate revenue primarily by selling miles to program partners, such as credit card providers, without spending a lot of money to generate the miles. Demand for miles increases airline profits, and carriers are increasingly recognizing this. Thus, they focus on making their brands more attractive and increasing interest in them, which leads to increased demand for miles.

All three airlines are trying to do this in different ways, but United is leveraging its long-haul network to a much greater extent than its competitors. The route between Newark and Madeira itself is a low-risk, low-reward flight, but the strategic value of the route is far greater than moving the aircraft to a different domestic frequency given the awareness and excitement it generates. With that said, there are reasons why United’s competitors have not followed this strategy to the same extent.

No interesting routes with an American?

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There are several reasons why you can’t see American Airlines opening new and unusual long-haul routes, as United does. First, most of United’s more unusual flights to Europe depart from United’s Newark hub, which is essentially a fortress serving the largest city in the United States. American, however, operates out of JFK Airport. limited by slots airport, and American’s slot machine portfolio is relatively small. American also has another transatlantic hub in Philadelphia, but the market there is nowhere near as big as New York or even Washington (United’s secondary European hub).

There’s also the fact that American is more focused on its domestic network than long-haul. United uses a domestic-configured 737 MAX 8 to serve Madeira, but American would never do that because it makes better use of its JFK slots and would rather assign the narrowbody to expand its short-haul network. For many years the whole strategy was to focus on internal in the markets, especially in the Sun Belt where it currently dominates, and simply offers huge charts for multiple nodes, a strategy that some have dubbed “El Paso to the world.”

On the long-haul route, American has focused on serving only the largest destinations. This is acceptable to Americans because the location of London (home to American Airways’ British Airways joint venture) is not a significant departure for those flying to other European destinations. The merits of this strategy are debatable (American certainly makes less money than United), but traveling non-stop to Madeira does not fit this philosophy. With the changes happening at American, we’ll see if that continues.

No transatlantic narrowbodies for Delta

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For many years, Delta Air Lines has been very conservative on long-haul flights, preferring instead to have joint venture partners take on as much of these flights as possible. Ultimately, long-haul flights are expensive, and while the route from Newark to Madeira is less risky than other long-haul routes, it is more expensive than domestic flights. For United, these routes do not seem to be viewed as a gamble, but Delta has historically been much more cautious with international routes, considering them much riskier than United.

Delta has been expanding its long-haul network recently, in part to focus more on increasing interest and awareness through its route announcements and also because of newGlobal Sphere” in its latest pilot deal. This essentially requires Delta to match its foreign partners’ long-haul U.S. flights using its own metal. The catch, however, is that this only applies to wide-body flights, and transatlantic flights operated by narrow-body aircraft are not included.

Delta no longer flies the Boeing 757 to any European destinations other than Reykjavik and has not ordered the Airbus A321XLR. While Delta executives have publicly stated that transatlantic narrowbody jets do not live up to the brand, the larger reason is likely that these aircraft are not accounted for on a global scale. For this reason, Delta prefers to fly its narrowbody aircraft on cheaper domestic flights than on a comparatively expensive route such as New York to Madeira, even though operating costs are lower than a widebody route.