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Home » United Airlines » United Airlines Will Drop Service To 12 Cities (Full List)
NewsUnited Airlines

United Airlines Will Drop Service To 12 Cities (Full List)

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 11, 2021November 14, 2023 25 Comments

a group of airplanes on a runway

During the pandemic, large cities have been hit, but small cities have been hit harder when it comes to air service. Demonstrating that point, United Airlines plans to eliminate service to 11 cities starting next month, ceding many routes to American Airlines.

United Airlines Cuts Service To 12 Cities, Says Long-Term Service Not Sustainable

United Airlines will suspend service to the following airports:

  • Battle Creek/Kalamazoo, Michigan (AZO)
  • College Station, Texas (CLL)
  • Columbia, Missouri (COU)
  • Evansville, Indiana (EVV)
  • Killeen–Fort Hood, Texas (GRK)
  • Lansing, Michigan (LAN)
  • Monroe, Louisiana (MLU)
  • Mosinee, Wisconsin (CWA)
  • Pierre, South Dakota (PIR)
  • Twin Falls, Idaho (TWF)
  • Watertown, South Dakota (ATY)
  • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (YWG)

Service to Twin Falls, Idaho will end on November 30, 2021. Other routes end on January 3, 2022.

Addressing the route suspensions, United said:

“Many different factors determine a successful route and our decisions include careful evaluation of our overall network, fleet, resources at our regional partners, and yields. With that in mind, we have determined that these particular routes are not sustainable for the long-term.”

Notably, Pierre and Watertown were Essential Air Service (EAS) markets and United (via regional partner SkyWest) did not receive a contract to renew services. Other route cuts simply reflect the limited demand from smaller cities that continue to be a byproduct of the pandemic.

United competed with either American or Delta on many of the routes above and will leave them without competition. That’s a change in strategy from United CEO Scott Kirby’s long-running pledge to compete more aggressively in domestic markets, but is a sign of the times: business travel has not returned and leisure travel is not sufficient to support these smaller markets.


> Read More: United Cuts International Routes, Will Focus on Domestic Travel


CONCLUSION

United Airlines will drop service to 12 cities, ceding many routes to American or Delta. The cuts reflect the new reality of travel in 2021 and we can expect to see similar cuts at American and Delta as the nation emerges from the pandemic and the strategic focus shifts.

image: Quintin Soloviev

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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25 Comments

  1. Dave Edwards Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 7:23 am

    That’s 11 less “meeting places” for UA-NYC. He knows the risks of going to Canada so that was already off the list.

    • Pete Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 9:21 am

      I love the poorly educated!!!

      • Dave Edwards Reply
        November 11, 2021 at 9:31 am

        And I love liberal elites who think they are better than others. Simple rule of thumb, anyone flying in a suit is probably an Ahole in life and looking to F someone at their destination, both figuratively and literally.

        • Aaron Reply
          November 11, 2021 at 11:52 am

          What about all the rich conservative elites and politicians who wear suits?

          • Dave Edwards
            November 11, 2021 at 7:43 pm

            Still shouldn’t be trusted..,.see Mitch.

    • UA-NYC Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 9:30 pm

      Apparently I’m now getting called out randomly (because you are an idiotic troll), so…

      Rumor has it your wife now has TMJ from all the happy hour blowies she’s been serving up in The Villages lately – thank Obamacare for her surgery!

  2. Tom Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 8:08 am

    Many of these are college towns with large/popular football programs. The season is winding down so this only makes sense for them to be seasonal routes at best. I believe UA announced many of these for that very reason (college football) earlier this year.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 9:56 am

      Some of these were long-standing routes – these were not the special college football game-day flights.

  3. Nate nate Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 9:09 am

    I don’t see why we need the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. I’d rather have those funds spent on economic development programs, such as subsidized childcare, free pre-K and free community college. If states want to subsidize air service, they should do it from their own budgets.

    • Jerry Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 1:30 pm

      The US spends approximately $1 per person per year on EAS. It’s not a very costly program, and the communities served certainly think it’s worth it.

      • Nate nate Reply
        November 12, 2021 at 11:43 am

        But sounds like its not valuable enough for the communities to fund themselves? Many of these airports are in “red” states whose elected representatives advocate for smaller government. Lets give the residents of these states what they are asking for.

        Also, lets be honest — this is funded by taxpayers from blue states who pay more into the system than they get out.

  4. Billiken Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 11:53 am

    I live in one of these towns and was quite surprised and disappointed when I saw this. Although we’ll still have AA and DL for now, it’s never good to have less options and competition.

  5. derek Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    Sometimes, it’s just easier to drive to STL or MCI rather than use COU, which is not close to Columbia.

    I thought AZO would be a big enough market for UA?

    Monroe is a funny place. Some people get almost angry if you ask if they are from Monroe. No, West Monroe! I wonder if Monroe is mostly Black? I should know because I have flown to MLU, which has a small terminal.

    • derek Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 12:35 pm

      Monroe built a new terminal 10 years ago. It has 6 gates. What a white elephant since they have so few flights and only the regional affiliates of AA and DL. The old terminal was fine with 2 gates, easily expandable to 3 and 4.

    • S Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 1:35 pm

      Monroe itself is about 2/3 Black and 1/3 White. The parish (county) it’s in is about the opposite.

    • Billiken Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 3:18 pm

      United operated at a disadvantage to Delta in Monroe, given that Monroe is DL’s birthplace and former headquarters. So, the moneyed interests in Monroe would tend to favor Delta, which left AA and UA to fight for the price-driven passengers. Of course, because United does not let basic economy fares have a free carryon, that means that UA’s cheapest fares needed to be at least $60 cheaper than AA’s to remain competitive. Perhaps UA simply didn’t want to compete against AA for DL’s leftovers. Alternatively, maybe United had a contract with Lumen (a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Monroe) and lost it?

    • Aaron Reply
      November 12, 2021 at 5:00 am

      Was any of what you said about racial make-up of Monroe in any related to what was being said in the article? Or you just couldn’t help yourself?

  6. Steve Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 6:28 pm

    Hope UA will relocate some of these RJ’s to HVN for flights to ORD. 3-4 daily flights on CRJ-550’s, CRJ-700’s and E175’s should do very well.

    • UA-NYC Reply
      November 11, 2021 at 9:32 pm

      That’s Avelo territory…

      UA can’t be bothered to fly anything other than crappy CR2s out of the rich HPN catchment…don’t think they are doing HVN anytime soon

  7. carletonm Reply
    November 11, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    Too bad about Lansing, Michigan. My first ride in an airplane was on a United DC-6 from Lansing to Chicago-O’Hare, in October 1967.

  8. Emma Reply
    November 12, 2021 at 8:22 am

    I had six of us scheduled to fly out of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek airport February 18th and come back on the 28th. When I saw some of these articles surface, I contacted United and they told me I would be notified before anything happened. A couple days ago I checked in the United app again, and all the flights were gone. My flights were canceled, and rebooking American out of The same place would now cost ~$1,500 more And even booking out of Chicago, which was the second leg of my original flights, would cost ~$1,000 more. United has been completely unhelpful. I have emailed the suggested department and I’m hoping they’ll at least give us some vouchers for the difference. I spent months keeping an eye on flight and hotel prices and booked early to get a good deal, and am so frustrated to now have to keep a consonant eye on flight prices and rebook 3 months out from the trip.
    Do better United.

    • Trying to help Emma Reply
      November 13, 2021 at 8:00 am

      Emma –

      Why can’t UA just rebook you out of DTW or GRR to your destination instead. What are they – maybe 1-hr drive from Kalamazoo? Or even FWA or SBN? You shouldn’t haven’t to pay any difference if you’re willing to be flexible and fly out of the one of those airports.

  9. Brian Carlson Reply
    November 19, 2021 at 10:31 am

    Isn’t it interesting that just when the politicians are getting all excited about recruiting voters in these smaller towns in middle America, the airlines are abandoning them? If you have to drive 2-3 hours to get to the nearest airport with commercial air service, you might as well drive to your destination. I guess air travel will soon be another thing that divides America into the haves and have nots.

  10. Brian Carlson Reply
    November 19, 2021 at 10:33 am

    Isn’t it interesting that just when the politicians are getting all excited about recruiting voters in these smaller towns in middle America, the airlines are abandoning them? If you have to drive 2-3 hours to get to the nearest airport with commercial air service, you might as well drive to your destination. Air travel will soon be another thing that divides America into the haves and have nots.

  11. Barbara Collins Reply
    March 10, 2022 at 11:05 am

    More cities (towns) cuts were announced last night– not sure how many but at least three in NE This all reminds me of the Precision Scheduling Railroad cuts that took place in 2018 & 2019. Now the airlines are getting into it.. More work, less people, bigger profits, its all bout the record profits they are hoping to gain. This is the perfect time to drop the routes they deem non lucrative.

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