United Confirms 3 New/Returning Transatlantic Routes EWR-ATH, IAD-BCN, IAD-LIS, Airlines restore year-round direct flights from Belfast to New York

United Airlines just confirmed rumors of three new and returning transatlantic routes. Moreover, the airlines also revealed its plans to reintroduce a year-round service between Belfast and its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport.

The new/returning route was confirmed as rumors started to flood the Internet on Friday. This route will see a once daily 767-300ER in Newark-Athens, which starts from May 25 through October 5. The flight will compete with Delta's twice daily Athens service from JFK.

Washington Dulles will see seasonal service to Barcelona (767-400ER) and Lisbon (757-200) from May 25th - September 6th. This confirmantion follows last week's declaration of new routes from San Francisco to Auckland and Tel Aviv as well as an earlier announcement of SFO-XIY (Xi'an, China).

United Airlines is also adding up daily trans-Atlantic summer-season service between New York/Newark and Athens, Greece, from May 25 through Oct. 5, 2016, Washington/Dulles and Barcelona, Spain, from May 25 through Sept. 6, 2016 and Washington/Dulles and Lisbon, Portugal, May 25 through Sept. 6, 2016.

To date, aircraft functioning Newark-Athens, Washington-Barcelona and Washington-Lisbon flights will present modern interiors with personal on-demand entertainment at every seat, Wi-Fi, in-seat power throughout the plane and multi-course meals in United Business First and United Economy.

In addition, United also plans to operate three times weekly from Belfast International Airport. Bob Schumacher, United's managing director of sales in Britain and Ireland admitted that in addition to its current schedule, the airline will also run their service from January 7th through to March 10th, 2016.

"New York remains a popular destination for travelers and our Newark Liberty hub provides the most convenient route into the city as well as easy connections to hundreds of other destinations across the United States and beyond. With this schedule change, we are offering our customers even more choice," Schumacher mentioned.

Belfast International Airport's managing director Graham Keddie also claimed that United's decision is aiming towards a positive development of the local economy. "We have been working with stakeholders to achieve this outcome and we are delighted it is now being delivered. The decision by United to return to full year-round service is of great significance to the Northern Ireland economy.

Meanwhile, United's 3 new/returning transatlantic routes' flight times will be 7 hours 25 minutes eastbound and 8 hours 20 minutes westbound. In addition, the airlines' management reportedly encourages more business passengers to use the main local airport for the transatlantic trip.