That did not take long. On September 4, United Airlines will begin nonstop flights from its Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) hub to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport (ICN). This will be United’s new fourth-longest service from EWR by time. The airline flew from New Jersey to ICN via Tokyo Narita Airport between 2014 and 2017.
It’ll be the first time that the very long airport pair has had two carriers, with United coexisting with South Korea’s Air Premia. Until the South Korean operator launched the service in 2023, the market had not had nonstop flights at all. Historically, only JFK, for New York City, had nonstop departures to ICN.
The Star Alliance member will fly daily on a year-round basis to ICN. Cirium Diio data shows that all departures will be on the 257-seat Boeing 787-9. This equipment has 48 seats in Polaris (1-2-1), 21 seats in Premium Plus (2-3-2; 38″ pitch), 39 seats in Economy Plus (3-3-3; 34″ pitch), and 149 seats in bog-standard economy (3-3-3; 31″ pitch). The premium-heavy, lower-capacity, 222-seat 787-9 is not due to fly this route.
In the 12 months to June 2026, booking data shows that 179,000 round-trip passengers flew between EWR and ICN. South Korea’s busiest airport was EWR’s largest market in East Asia, even surpassing Tokyo (114,000). The strength of ICN was largely driven by Air Premia (which also runs daily) and that carrier’s relatively low fares. It is unclear what proportion of the market would remain if Air Premia’s traffic is stripped out.
When all airlines, cabins, and passengers are considered, the average base fare on EWR-ICN was just $650 each way (excluding taxes, add-ons, and any fuel surcharge). This was less than half that achieved by Tokyo, with the Japanese capital having no nonstop budget or hybrid operator. It was also substantially lower than for JFK-ICN, served nonstop by Asiana Airlines and Korean Air, with an average base fare of $1,145 each way. That’s more in line with what United hopes to achieve from EWR.
5:15 PM-6:00 PM (same day arrival; 13 hours and 45 minutes)
More Options For Reaching The Eastern US & Beyond
Obviously, connectivity via EWR will be important for this route. United also codeshares with fellow Star Alliance member Asiana, although that agreement ends soon due to Asiana’s tie-up with SkyTeam’s Korean Air.
Possible connections via EWR have been explored using OAG’s Connections Analysis tool. This was based on no more than a four-hour wait in EWR and flying no more than 30% out of your way compared to what a theoretical nonstop flight would be.
This process shows that about 35 cities are reachable, with booking data estimating that they had over 800,000 round-trip ICN passengers between July 2025 and June 2026. United only transported around 4% of the traffic via its other flights to ICN, so that small figure will now increase.
The top ten targets are Toronto (209,000), Atlanta (157,000), the Washington DC area (123,000), Chicago (104,000), Boston (84,000), Detroit (44,000), Montreal (37,000), Orlando (41,000), Nashville (24,000), and Savannah (21,000). Seven of them have nonstop flights, albeit not with United. Of course, some require backtracking, which passengers would have to weigh up when considering options.
They include one long-haul route and multiple shorter links. Find out more here!
United’s Third Nonstop Route From EWR To East Asia
Flights from EWR to ICN will join United’s existing network to NRT and Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND). All three routes run daily using the 257-seat 787-9. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier flew nonstop from EWR more destinations in East Asia.
Nonstop service from EWR to Beijing Capital, Hong Kong, and Shanghai Pudong existed until 2020. Even Cathay Pacific no longer flies to New Jersey. Four of United’s links (Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, NRT) were inherited from Continental Airlines.
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