United Airlines unveils major international expansion

United Airlines will add 10 new destinations next year — the largest international expansion in the Chicago-based company’s nearly 100-year history.

The airline announced Tuesday that it will introduce nonstop flights to Okinawa, Japan; Toulouse, France; Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; Marseille, France; Ibiza, Spain; Valencia, Spain; Terceira, Portugal; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Olbia (Sardinia), Italy; and Catania (Sicily), Italy.

Aside from Olbia and Catania, no other U.S. airline currently flies directly to any of the other cities on this list. These new flights will begin operating next spring, starting with the Japan flight on March 27 and ending with the launch of the Portugal flight on June 9.

The Japan flight will depart from San Francisco International Airport and the France flight from Virginia’s Dulles International Airport. All other new flights will be routed out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

The airline also debuted its newest international aircraft, the “Born to Explore” A321XLR, at an event at Newark on Tuesday. This aircraft will carry passengers to five of these new cities. It will begin operating domestic flights this September before transitioning to international routes in December.

“We offer the most flights across the Atlantic and Pacific and Newark is the best Atlantic gateway in the country – so far this year, it’s the most on-time airport in the New York City area,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement. “We’re going to keep building on that momentum as we welcome the new A321XLR to our fleet and continue to elevate the travel experience for every customer who chooses United.”

Additionally, United announced it will add more international trips to existing flight routes and restart service from San Francisco to Tel Aviv, Israel. Since 2021, the airline said it has added 49 new destinations.

This newest expansion effort comes amid rising jet fuel prices around the world, which have been driven up by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil trading corridor, during the Iran war.

The average global price of jet fuel last week was around $163 a barrel, an 82 percent cost increase from a year ago, according to the International Air Transit Association’s fuel price monitor .

Kirby told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday that he has been “pleasantly surprised” by the amount of jet fuel that has been able to move out of the gulf and into international markets.

“I think we’re also in a gradual world where we’re going to continue to get more oil from other sources in other ways out of the gulf,” Kirby said. “And so, who knows for sure? But, my base case would be that it’ll sort of gradually decline — it stays higher than it was — but that it will gradually decline into 2027.”