United Makes Bid for New European Routes

United Airlines has asked the federal government for approval to serve Madrid and Manchester, England, from its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport.

United said it would provide daily service on each route, using Boeing 767-200ER aircraft.

Chairman Stephen M. Wolf said the applications were part of a United strategy to become “a truly global airline in the 1990s.”

He said United’s hub at Dulles, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, would permit Madrid and Manchester passengers to connect with United flights to 55 other cities in the United States.

In Europe, he said, United’s strategy is to concentrate service on primary transportation centers in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom and to expand to other European cities as opportunities arise and new aircraft become available.

Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow and Milan/Rome also are on United’s list of cities to be served, Wolf said.

United also has been expanding aggressively in the Pacific.