United Airlines is shifting strategy at Newark Liberty and Washington Dulles, with big plans to concentrate connecting traffic at Dulles and make Newark “almost entirely” mainline.
Let’s first turn to Domestic Network VP Ankit Gupta. His strategy is simple: Dulles has more capacity and room for growth, therefore Dulles should focus on connecting traffic:
Newark capacity is finite, so to grow we need to fly larger airplanes. Dulles has more capacity and, as such, presents a great opportunity for our connecting passengers who today make their connections in Newark.
Over the coming years, you’ll see us doing more of both – adding frequencies and connectivity in Dulles and eventually growing EWR to the point where it will be almost entirely mainline service.
That’s big news, as congestion issues at Newark have limited the potential for new routes. Larger aircraft are not sustainable on many regional routes to small cities in the East and Midwest.
Here’s a summary of the planned network changes, with all changes set to take effect on October 04, 2018:
- Adding new nonstop seasonal service December 19-March 30 between EWR and PSP (Palm Springs, California)
- Expanding seasonal service between EWR and EYW (Key West, Florida) to year-round
- Increasing service to the following destinations from EWR:
- BNA (Nashville, Tennessee)
- BTV (Burlington, Vermont)
- CHS (Charleston, South Carolina)
- FLL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
- GSO (Greensboro, North Carolina)
- MCO (Orlando, Florida)
- MEM (Memphis, Tennessee)
- MSY (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- ORF (Norfolk, Virginia)
- PBI (West Palm Beach, Florida)
- PHX (Phoenix, Arizona)
- PIT (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- RSW (Fort Myers, Florida)
- SAT (San Antonio, Texas)
- SRQ (Sarasota, Florida)
- Reallocating United Express flights from Newark to Dulles on the following routes:
- AVP (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania)
- CHA (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
- ITH (Ithaca, New York)
- From EWR, we will discontinue service to:
- BWI (Washington-Baltimore)
- BDL (Hartford, Connecticut)
- DSM (Des Moines, Iowa).
- We will continue to serve BWI, BDL and DSM from multiple hubs
- We will suspend winter season service December 19-March 30 between EWR and SMF (Sacramento, California)
My Thoughts
At first glance, it seems like United is adding more connecting options to Newark. Instead, United is trying to encourage more o/d (direct) traffic from Newark and direct connections to Dulles where there is more room and better handling during irregular operations.
No destination will lose service: all will continue to be served by at least one United hub. Furthermore, the new Palm Springs service will compete head-on with JetBlue’s seasonal service between Palm Springs and New York JFK.
Any discussion of Dulles is not complete without reflecting upon the “temporary” Terminal C/D that remains one of the ugliest concourses in the country. There is still no money allocated to upgrade these facilities. But while ugly, I find Dulles to be convenient and quite easy to connect in. I’d rather connect in Dulles over Newark any day of the week. Thus, I’m pleased by the change in strategy.
> Read More: Why I Love International Connections at Washington Dulles
CONCLUSION
Newark is losing six destinations, but its long-term prospects are bright: more mainline jets, less congestion from connecting traffic, and increased service to popular destinations. Meanwhile, rather than being de-hubbed, Dulles is given a new level of importance as United’s primary East Coast connection center.
GSO is Greensboro NC
EWR isn’t actually slot controlled anymore. That was lifted about 1.5 years ago.
It’s still rather congested from the litany of regional jets coming in and out though.
Discontinuing EWR-BWI is a surprise. They are pretty much eliminating sensible international connections for anyone based (or going to) in a fairly large market.
I do agree that IAD is better positioned to cater domestic connections but IAD will never replicate the robust TATL network at EWR and I hope UA will continue to ensure domestic priorities does not erode international connectivity.
The one potential issue with United regional jets connecting at Dulles is – I think – the majority of them are at Terminal A and the United mainline flights are in C/D. Trying to race from one terminal to the other presents challenges especially for those unfamiliar with IAD. I was originating from IAD a few weeks ago and saw a bunch of people who were racing from the train arriving at C down that ridiculously long walkway to the escalators up to C/D.
IAD is going to get a lot nicer here in the next year or so. United is building not 1 but 2 Polaris lounges there, adding another United Club (because one global first lounge and one united club become Polaris) and they’re upgrading the concourses…mostly lipstick but nice looking lipstick at that.
GSO is North Carolina…..not South Carolina.
Blame United for that. But I fixed it.
GSO = Greensboro, North Carolina
Where has it been announced IAD is going to have one Polaris lounge in a year, let alone two? I’ve wondered if they might use some gates in A/B, which is underused till the evening TATL flights, while C/D always seems crowded.
It would make sense to use the rest of A if the express area of A runs out of space. But it seems D isn’t fully utilized either and there is just plenty of room at IAD right now.
“Better handling of IRROPS at IAD” is a talking point from someone who has never experienced the joy of United Express IRROPS at IAD.
I’m predicting a renaissance in international destinations out of IAD for UA within the next 3-5 years. The best predictor of this is the ending of BDL-EWR and BWI-EWR along side enhancements in Polaris product in IAD. This is a win-win for both hubs.
It’s a relative thing. I believe there are fewer weather delays than at EWR or ORD. By the way, if Amazon selects NOVA – and IAD is a selling point- this could be a smart move.
AS I have retired from United and have done gate airplane layout parking design at every single UAL station WHICH IS ON AUTO CAD DONE BY ME . I beleive United /CO should look at the all around airports between EWR AND IAD FIRST WHICH HUB HAS THE BEST WEATHER STATION SUCH AS ICE, SNOW ,AIRPLANE BACK UP TRAFFIC CONDITIONS WITH WITH JFK,LGA, PHL, BOS all backed up does not it seem that IAD has less air traffic conditions ,winter weather conditions the more you go north the weather is worse, next EWR is at its max airplane traffic parking conditions , IAD has a lot more room for expansions , more room for building air plane hangers for service , oh the landing slot fees is cheaper in IAD than EWR …. plus the USA Gov. air travel is right there at IAD …. ALso the cost factors at IAD IS CHEAPER THERE IS HIGH COST REAL FEES AT EWR.. YOU HAVE MORE ROOM FOR WIDE BODY AIRPLANES AT IAD THAN AT EWR….
I often fly EWR to HKG or to BOM from BDL. Now I have to fly to Chicago, then to EWR. Crazy!!