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First CO then UA has been sending 737's to Hawaii for years so I shouldn't be surprised but it still seems like a lot of water to cross, even though distance wise it's shorter than some west coast cities to Hawaiian destinations. The 737 MAX will be operating the seasonal EWR to Azores flight.

In a world of large 757s, 767s and 787s, this flight is the only one to be operated by a 737 MAX. In fact, it’s the first time United — or any U.S. carrier — is scheduling the workhorse 737 to fly transatlantically.

However, a flight from the U.S. to the Azores spans only about 2,576 miles (and takes 5 hours and 45 minutes), which is shorter than some of United’s West Coast-Hawaii flights likewise operated by 737s.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-737-max-azores-ponta-delgada/

As the article states at the end, if this works out, how long will it be before some secondary markets in Europe might see UA TATL service?

The 737-max is a great and hugely capable aircraft. I just wish airlines (UA included) wouldn't use those horrible space-saver lavs that require any normal size adult to be a contortionist.

PA110 wrote:The 737-max is a great and hugely capable aircraft. I just wish airlines (UA included) wouldn't use those horrible space-saver lavs that require any normal size adult to be a contortionist.

And those absolute clown-show sinks.

EDIT: The last Max I was on was an AAL, and I was in back with the slimline seats. The experience was as awful as being on Frontier, and my butt kept falling asleep (this was when I'd been doing squats and had a better butt, too). Not sure what UAL's seats are like.

The Azores market is largely going to be yachties/marine techs/nav & delivery crews. They don't care about being cramped for a few hours, they care about having a few extra $ for weed and solar panels. This is one TATL market where you can pile them in and sell it cheap, it will work.

DXing wrote:As the article states at the end, if this works out, how long will it be before some secondary markets in Europe might see UA TATL service?

I could see some of the smaller UK airports that have struggled to keep TATL services previously sustaining a 150 seat service. NCL & BRS are examples that have tried before but can't routinely sell the numbers to justify larger aircraft, so there may be opportunities there.

Lucas wrote:And those absolute clown-show sinks.

EDIT: The last Max I was on was an AAL, and I was in back with the slimline seats. The experience was as awful as being on Frontier, and my butt kept falling asleep (this was when I'd been doing squats and had a better butt, too). Not sure what UAL's seats are like.

I've flown UA's Max 9 quite a bit to/from HI, almost all the time down the back. I've found the seats reasonably comfortable for a 5-6 hour flight.