United Hubs Targeted by Alaska and American
Joe Cortez March 13, 2017
Airlines announce major expansions in Chicago and San Francisco.
Two hubs controlled by United Airlines will soon have new competition from legacy competitor American Airlines and the growing Alaska Airlines. Both airlines announced a set of new routes targeting the United strongholds of Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
At ORD, American will add 11 flights starting this summer. The Dallas Morning News reports that the new service in Chicago will be primarily focused on adding smaller cities to their network, including Appleton, Wis., Colorado Springs and Ontario, Calif. Some international routes will also be added, including flights from Barcelona and Guatemala City. In an internal statement obtained by The Dallas Morning News, American Airlines president Robert Isom told employees the new routes would allow the airline to “maximize revenues and operate reliably.”
In San Francisco, United will face new challenges from Alaska Airlines, after closing their merger with Virgin America earlier this year. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the combined airline will add an additional 13 routes from SFO and other area airports to popular destinations across the country, including Philadelphia and New Orleans. An international route planned for Mexico City is pending government approval.
The moves come as United is expanding their growth and premium cabin offerings to keep up with their competitors. In addition to introducing the United Polaris experience at the end of 2016, the Chicago-based carrier is also adding routes from their hubs to compete directly with other carriers. While the first Boeing 777-300ER with the Polaris cabin will be based in SFO, United is also adding service to China and Tel Aviv from their West Coast hub. In Chicago, the carrier has announced an improved regional footprint, where they plan on competing head-to-head with American.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Sort of. Out of SFO, AS/VX *still* has not added service to IAH/HOU, the 5th largest metro area in the country. I'm pretty sure it's not a coincidence that IAH is also a huge UA hub.
Considering it was an AA exec that said it about AA it was not in conjunction with UA.
Except that American already has had a but in Chicago ORD for decades. Ie, Chicago ORD has long been hub for BOTH American and United. As opposed to SFO, which is hub for United and Virgin Express (which Alaska is buying), but not for American (nor for Alaska prior to its purchase of Virgin America). Meanwhile, American is adding flights in lots of other hubs & focus cities where United doesn't hub, such as PHX and DFW. So this story seems a bit of stretch in claiming american is going after united's hub. American is distributing its new flights pretty evenly around its different hubs, not "picking on" ORD specifically. And why wouldn't Alaska keep SFO alive when that was Virgin America's hub???
"In an internal statement obtained by The Dallas Morning News, American Airlines president Robert Isom told employees the new routes would allow the airline to “maximize revenues and operate reliably.” I've not seen the word Reliable used in conjunction with UA; is this a typo?