An United Airlines Holdings Inc. aircraft Bombardier CRJ-550 is sitting at a door of Chicago, Illinois O’Hare International Airport (ORD).
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
United Airlines adds more than two dozen non-stop routes from the Midwest to popular coastal cities among tourists during the summer season, a bet that travelers will continue to gravitate outward.
The Chicago-based airline said Thursday that its global schedule for May will be 52% of what it flew in May 2019, which will fly more in more than a year, when the pandemic closed businesses and most of air travel. Last May it flew 14% of its capacity in May 2019. Its national programming in May will be 58% of its capacity in May 2019.
Plans show the company’s focus on domestic tourists over another summer, usually the most lucrative season for airlines. Air travel has steadily increased as more people have been vaccinated over the past month, but business travel and international travel continue to fall sharply compared to domestic vacations.
“We wanted to point our assets toward where the demand is,” said Ankit Gupta, vice president of network and schedule planning at United. He said the airline’s capacity to Florida is almost back to the same level as 2019.
As of May 27, United plans to add new nonstop flights from Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, St. Louis. Louis, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Indianapolis. Destinations and frequencies vary by market from two to four times a week and include Portland, Maine, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Pensacola, Florida.
Most of the service will be with its 50-seat CRJ-550 aircraft.
Other direct news include Houston in Kalispell, Montana, Washington in Bozeman, Montana and Chicago in Nantucket, Massachusetts
Other operators are also looking for customers who want to leave. Delta Air Lines last week announced a series of summer services to destinations such as Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Glacier Park, Montana.
Leisure-oriented budget airlines, such as Spirit Airlines, are also expected to grow this summer, while low-cost airlines Southwest Airlines will enter the United turf entering the centers of O’Hare International Airport. Chicago and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
“There will be significant competition for all customers in the U.S.,” Gupta said. “We believe we have all the right ingredients.”
International travel continues to lag behind in domestic travel due to continued travel restrictions and low demand. United’s May international schedule is 46% of the May 2019 schedule, although the flight from Latin America and the Caribbean will exceed May 2019 levels, as travelers seek vacations and visit friends and family. .