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
That’s 11 less “meeting places” for UA-NYC. He knows the risks of going to Canada so that was already off the list.
I love the poorly educated!!!
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.
What about all the rich conservative elites and politicians who wear suits?
Still shouldn’t be trusted..,.see Mitch.
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!
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.
Some of these were long-standing routes – these were not the special college football game-day flights.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monroe itself is about 2/3 Black and 1/3 White. The parish (county) it’s in is about the opposite.
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?
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.