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Home  >  United Airlines  >  United Shifting Strategy at Newark + Washington Hubs
United Airlines

United Shifting Strategy at Newark + Washington Hubs

Matthew Klint Posted onMay 12, 2018May 12, 2018 17 Comments

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.

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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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17 Comments

  1. Dave Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 10:29 am

    GSO is Greensboro NC

  2. Kevin Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 10:54 am

    EWR isn’t actually slot controlled anymore. That was lifted about 1.5 years ago.

    • William Reply
      May 12, 2018 at 5:33 pm

      It’s still rather congested from the litany of regional jets coming in and out though.

  3. Golfingboy Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 11:07 am

    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.

  4. Jeremy P Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 11:50 am

    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.

  5. Bob Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    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.

  6. Phillip Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    GSO is North Carolina…..not South Carolina.

    • Matthew Reply
      May 12, 2018 at 3:18 pm

      Blame United for that. But I fixed it.

  7. KC Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    GSO = Greensboro, North Carolina

  8. Arthur Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    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.

    • Matthew Reply
      May 12, 2018 at 3:45 pm

      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.

  9. Rjb Reply
    May 12, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    “Better handling of IRROPS at IAD” is a talking point from someone who has never experienced the joy of United Express IRROPS at IAD.

  10. Tony Reply
    May 13, 2018 at 8:23 am

    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.

  11. Arthur Reply
    May 13, 2018 at 8:25 am

    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.

  12. JAMES CALLAHAN Reply
    May 14, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    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….

  13. GJGerard Reply
    February 1, 2019 at 10:29 am

    I often fly EWR to HKG or to BOM from BDL. Now I have to fly to Chicago, then to EWR. Crazy!!

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