United Airlines will run near-hourly shuttle service between Newark and Washington National in order to hold onto its DCA slots, a move that massively increases the number of seats available between the two cities.
New United Airlines Shuttle Service Between Newark And Washington National
Between Newark (EWR) and Washington (DCA), United will operate “nearly hourly” service between 6:00AM and 10:00PM, totaling 18 flight per day. Furthermore, United will operate five daily flights between Newark and Washington Dulles (IAD) and nine between New York LaGuardia (LGA) and Dulles. The increased service will commence on October 31, 2021.
The move will increase flight between the Washington area and New York area by 78% over current levels.
United could have run 50-seat regional jets with no first class or Economy Plus, so I am thankful that the CRJ-550 will be used for the EWR-DCA route. I’m also happy to see all two-cabin service including the occasional mainline Boeing 737 MAX 8 between Washington Dulles and Newark as well as LaGuardia.
Why so many new flights? Because the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has said carriers must now use their slots or lose them when it comes to domestic service. For the last 18 months, carriers had been granted a reprieve during the pandemic. That is now over. DCA, LGA, and JFK are slot-controlled airports.
View From The Wing explains why slot-squatting is ironic considering the Department of Justice is suing to block closer ties between American Airlines and JetBlue. He’s right: United’s decision to run such frequent service between the two cities (Delta is also adding 100 new departures from LGA and New York JFK to various destinations) seems like a bigger red flag than concern that American Airlines will overshadow JetBlue as a low-fare provider by adding more seats to the NYC market…
Schedule For United Airlines EWR-DCA Shuttle Service
From Newark to Washington National, flights will depart at:
- 6:00AM
- 6:59AM
- 8:00AM
- 9:00AM
- 9:30AM
- 10:00AM
- 11:00AM
- 11:30AM
- 11:59AM
- 1:00PM
- 2:00PM
- 2:30PM
- 3:00PM
- 4:00PM
- 4:30PM
- 5:00PM
- 6:00PM
- 8:00PM
From Washington National to Newark, flights will depart at:
- 6:00AM
- 7:00AM
- 8:00AM
- 9:00AM
- 10:00AM
- 11:00AM
- 11:30AM
- 12:00PM
- 1:00PM
- 1:30PM
- 2:00PM
- 2:55PM
- 4:00PM
- 4:30PM
- 5:00PM
- 6:00PM
- 6:30PM
- 7:00PM
All flights on this shuttle route will be operated by the CRJ-550.
> Read More: United Airlines CRJ-550 First Class Review
Wow…
CONCLUSION
With so many flights likely outstripping actual demand, look for easy upgrades and great fares traveling between New York and Washington. When I was in law school I used to take the bus between these cities, preferring to save money over Amtrak or flying. I wonder if fares on United will shortly reach bus levels or will remain high and United will simply operate with mostly empty seats?
Shame they aren’t running flights from LGA to DCA. I realize that’s a crowded market, but there probably is a reason why.
United doesnt have the slots at LGA to support 18 flights a day to DCA. It’s that simple. Or rather, maybe they do, but theyd have to give up the slots at LGA they use for Denver, Houston, and Chicago O’Hare flying.
I love the CRJ-550. Great little first class, self-serve food and beverages makes sense for the route. A great plane for a shuttle jaunt like this.
Do you know what other routes they use this plane for?
They fly it a lot out of ORD to places in the Midwest like St. Louis, Detroit, Des Moines, Madison, Indianapolis, etc.
They fly 170/175s on those routes too, as well as mainline, but I know they all get CRJ-550s too.
Imagine no perimeter
It’s easy if you try
No 1,500 no 1,250
Nonstops to Western skies
Imagine all the people…
Flying to A-U-S
Idk… Seems like a better use of the slots
Agreed. Would be a much better use of slots. Time to abolish the perimeter rule!
United had planned to do this before the pandemic. There had been press releases about this and it was supposed to start in April 2020.
Yep! It’s annoying that Matthew posted it and referenced Gary. Gary would never let facts get in the way of clickbait reporting though! United is not THAT dumb to start this service without knowing the demand is there.
Excellent. Good news for me. As a byproduct maybe Biden et alia will stop bleating about the end of the planet.
Amtrak still has far more capacity on this route than United will have with these small planes. The trains have far more seats and run more often. They make intermediate stops that are convenient for many travelers, there is no TSA to go through, and they operate center city to center city with about the same total time as leaving for the airport, getting through the airport, flying, getting through the destination airport, and traveling from the destination airport. Uninterrupted work on the train is possible, and the food choices are better, especially in Acela Express first class.
This makes sense if United wants to get people to and from its Newark hub to connect with longer distance mainline flights, however.
UA can offer EWR-DCA but won’t offer HVN-ORD.
It’s all about protecting the slots – HVN-ORD not slot-controlled.
I know US did that at LGA with dozens of Dash-8 flights to hold on to the slots.
Talk about serious trolling … only some brand new startup has flights mostly to Florida out of HVN, and somehow , it’s UA fault for not serving it .
Why not run 10 DCA-EWR and 8 DCA-BOS near shuttle flights instead…the latter capturing premium heavy business travelers on the Northeast corridor?