United Airlines decision to leave New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport is one that the airline has regretted ever since leaving. It’s clear that business and leisure travelers coming to NYC, prefer flying into JFK than Newark, and the airline was losing corporate agreements as a result.

Starting in February 2021, United Airlines will officially be returning to New York’s John F. Kennedy International, with twice daily service to/from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Per United Airlines,

United Airlines announced today that it will be returning service to New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) on February 1, 2021 with nonstop service to the west coast.

The airline’s entry back into JFK after five years reflects not only its strong commitment to the New York City area, but a continuation of aggressively and strategically managing the impact of COVID-19 by increasing service to and from the places where customers want to fly. The new United service will operate out of Terminal 7.

Effective February of next year, United will serve both JFK to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and JFK to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with two round-trips for each west coast city. The flights will utilize the reconfigured Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on the routes offering customers an extended premium cabin featuring 16 additional United Business class seats –providing all-aisle-access seating – bringing the total premium cabin seat count to 46.

The aircraft will also feature 22 United Premium Plus seats, 47 Economy Plus seats and 52 Economy seats. United offers the most premium seats between the New York City area and Los Angeles and San Francisco markets.

It’s clear that United Airlines leaving JFK nearly 5 years ago was a big mistake, and as a result of the pandemic, JFK had some additional slots open up which United was able to acquire.

The competition on these transcontinental routes between New York-Los Angeles/San Francisco continues to be intense with every major airline including American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue Airways, Alaska and now United Airlines will join back into the fix.

What are your thoughts on United returning to New York’s John F. Kennedy? Feel free to share your thoughts below.