United confident strong international travel demand will stick around

United Airlines CCO Andrew Nocella does not think the international travel boom has run its course. Far from it. Instead, the Chicago-based carrier has doubled down on long-haul, international travel with a robust summer 2024 schedule and orders for hundreds of new Boeing 787s to drive growth later in the decade. “Ultimately, as you approach the end of this decade, the growth in the United States will be very much tied to GDP,” Nocella said at the Skift Aviation Forum in Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday. That rate of economic activity-tied growth has long been true for mature aviation markets. “But growing overseas, we think there’s just a lot more opportunity,” Nocella continued. United saw record profits across both the Atlantic and Pacific in Q3. International yields, a rough proxy for airfares, as a whole increased 3.2% during the period; significantly better than the flat yields United saw systemwide. But many wonder if the international boom can continue. As US domestic yields came down this summer following their surge in 2022, some believe airlines could see the same on transatlantic flights next summer. That’s especially true given the industry-wide capacity increases in the market as players from American Airlines to Lufthansa and United grow by double digits. “The current cycle we expect to last a very long time,” Nocella said.<br/>