Everything about United Express totally explained
United Express is a
brand name under which seven
regional airlines operate feeder flights for
United Airlines. They primarily connect smaller cities with United's domestic
hub airports and “
focus cities”, and sometimes provide
point-to-point service such as
Sacramento to
Eureka.
As of
May 1,
2007, these carriers are the following:
The seven airlines are owned by five
holding companies (Chautauqua and Shuttle America are part of
Republic Airways Holdings; Trans States and GoJet are part of Trans States Holdings).
Mesa Air Group owns Mesa Airlines while, Pinnacle Airlines Corp.,
parent company of similarly named,
Pinnacle Airlines owns Colgan Air.
SkyWest, Inc. is the holding company in control of SkyWest Airlines.
History
Major airlines in the
United States had long maintained relationships with regional carriers which fed passengers from small markets to larger towns. The
Airline Deregulation Act spurred industry consolidation both vertically and horizontally, and as the hub system became more pronounced, airlines formalized these relationships through
code sharing, shared
branding, and listing regional partners in
computer reservations systems. By the mid-1980s, United was partners with
Air Wisconsin,
Aspen Airways, and
WestAir, feeding its hubs at
Chicago O'Hare,
Denver Stapleton, and
San Francisco International Airports. Air Wisconsin and Aspen would merge in 1991.
In 1988,
Presidential Airways became a United Express carrier for United's new hub at
Washington Dulles International Airport, but soon foundered. In response, WestAir formed an eastern division to serve Dulles. WestAir itself experienced turmoil; in 1991 it spun off the new division into an independent company,
Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), and the following year was acquired by
Mesa Airlines.
In 1992
Great Lakes Airlines became a United Express partner, followed by
Trans States Airlines the following year. In 1997, as United officially designated
Los Angeles International Airport one of its hubs,
SkyWest Airlines left
Continental Airlines to become a United Express partner as well. Great Lakes left the United Express system in 2001, although it continues to codeshare some routes with United.
In 1993, Trans States Holdings started
United Feeder Service, to operate British Aerospace
BAe ATP aircraft for United Airlines. The aircraft, originally owned by
Air Wisconsin, were transferred and subsequently owned by United. UFS operated routes to
Chicago O'Hare (ORD) from close markets in the upper midwest of the United States. UFS was eliminated from the United Express carrier network in 1999, and disappeared.
When United declared
bankruptcy in 2002, it pressured its regional partners for reduced fees. In 2004, ACA canceled its contract and reinvented itself as
low-cost carrier Independence Air. The next year, Air Wisconsin canceled its flying contract but continued ground-handling United Express operations. To compensate, United has initiated new service agreements with
Colgan Air, Trans States subsidiary
GoJet Airlines, and
Republic Airways Holdings subsidiaries
Chautauqua Airlines and
Shuttle America.
In 2005, United announced that service levels on major United Express routes would be upgraded to a new product called e
xplus. Routes with explus service offer first class seats and meal service on larger, 70-seat
Embraer 170 and 66-seat
Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft. Expanding the traditional regional partner role, United started to use the airplanes configured with e
xplus amenities instead of, or alongside with, mainline jets on routes linking large cities, such as Chicago to Houston.
United announced a new Express
focus city at
San Antonio International Airport in 2006, but the experiment was short-lived.
New routes
Chicago (ORD)
- Quebec City, Canada (YQB)
- Montrose, Colorado (RTJ)
- Great Falls, Montana (GTF)
- Kalispell, Montana (FCI)
- Casper, Wyoming (CPR)
Los Angeles (LAX)
- Tulsa, Oklahoma (TUL)
- Bozeman, Montana (BZN)
Destinations
See:
United Express destinationsFurther Information
Get more info on 'United Express'.
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