Christmas Miracle? United Airlines Schedules Boeing 777-200 Flights Between Chicago O’Hare & Fort Lauderdale

United Airlines will deploy its Boeing 777-200s on one daily flight between Chicago and Fort Lauderdale during a short period this winter.

Increasing its offering

According to Ishrion Aviation on X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed on United Airlines’ website, the airline will deploy one of its Boeing 777-200s between Chicago and Fort Lauderdale this winter for a short period. Between December 19 and January 6, one of United’s five daily flights from Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will be operated by the Boeing 777-200s. The remaining flights will be operated on the Airbus A321neos.

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Florida is a popular tourist destination year-round, but especially in the winter when people living in cold places want to travel somewhere warm. According to data from aviation analytics firm, Cirium, December 2023 had 356 widebody flights at FLL, compared to just 91 this month. United is not the only airline that will send widebodies to Fort Lauderdale during the winter, as Air Canada usually deploys its Airbus A330s there. Additionally, Brazilian carrier Azul Linhas Aéreas operates flights from Campinas year-round on its Airbus A330s.

In December, 371 widebody flights, excluding United’s operations, are scheduled to and from FLL. This year, EL AL will operate two weekly flights to FLL, and Azul will operate two routes it did not operate in December 2023. The Brazilian carrier will also fly from Recife and Belo Horizonte. Air Canada will deploy widebodies from Montreal and Toronto.

FLL is the Miami area’s secondary airport, located north of the city and just 27 miles from Miami International Airport. Despite this, it is still a very busy airport, with nearly 23,000 flights scheduled in December. The airport is crucial to Spirit Airlines’ operations and serves as a crew base. The ultra-low-cost carrier has the largest market share at FLL, with 6,590 flights in December.

Related

A Closer Look At Spirit Airlines’ Top International Routes By Seat Availability

Spirit Airlines connects key Central and South American cities with Fort Lauderdale, offering competitive fares and frequent services.

The top five carriers at FLL in December are:

In total, 23 airlines will serve Fort Lauderdale in December, offering 3,996,634 seats.

Comparing Fort Lauderdale to Miami

Miami International Airport is American Airlines’ most important hub for its Latin America and Caribbean operations. Of the 34,432 flights scheduled at MIA in December, 23,000 alone are American Airlines’. AA operates more flights at MIA than all operations at FLL that month and has more than 80 uncontested routes there.

American has more than 3.5 million seats available, while Delta has the second-highest offering with just 398,794. In total, MIA has 5,886,616 seats in December.

Photo: Ritu Manoj Jethani | Shutterstock

The busiest route at MIA is to Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, home to Delta’s headquarters. The route is operated by four carriers and has up to 20 daily roundtrips. The second-busiest route is to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City, with up to 18 daily roundtrips. American competes with Delta and Spirit on the route but has a larger offering than its two competitors combined. Rounding out the top three, just behind LGA, is the flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport, serving New York City. Of the 17 daily roundtrips, American operates nine, Delta operates five, and JetBlue operates three.