tvknight415

Thanks for the replies Trip is in early Oct, so multiple months after the June 30 notice date.

Do you think they’d be willing to make the move before everything is finalized? Or will we have to wait for UA to formally cancel it to start the process once the FAA signs off? Will they do a preliminary rebook automatically for us, or will we have to reach out once they email?

WineCountryUA

Generally no, no until something actually changes -- otherwise it will be considered a voluntary change

hard to predict, on a route cancellation with no possible to using the same airports, you just get a notice on the itin page that you need to call. Emails will eventually come but not right away. Suspect your local news will be the first place you hear about this.Check every couple of weeks once you get closer would be a good idea.

9wishes

From reading meeting minutes of the governing board, looks like Southern Airways (who bought Air Choice One) was the only bidder for Decatur, IL route. We’d gain back St. Louis. Back to 8-seater Cessna Caravan. However, it looks like they are also trying to what out something witH Skywest. Local influence would not want to go back to single engine planes.

CPS89

My apologies if there's a better place for this, but I'm curious what some people are considering as alternatives as it looks like this is going to go through.

I'm a frequent traveler to EAR, but I'm hoping that one of the West/Central NE airports survive so I don't have to drive in from Lincoln or Omaha.

My main concern is CMX. Looks like I'll have to do ORD-DTW-Iron mountain or Marquette on DL. This will essentially shut down our in person business from Oct-March, as driving up there is sketchy during those times.

Im bummed about LWB, CKB, EAU, PAH, and CGI. All conveniently located for me, but at least they have other options nearby. Looking forward to finally experiencing a P2012 out of OWB instead of the devil's chariot out of PAH.

jsloan

I suspect they’d find a replacement vendor by October. Heck, maybe DL would go back to offering a DTW-CMX-IMT-MSP pattern. I suspect people would rather add a stop at Iron Mountain than lose service entirely.

That said, my sister had friends at Michigan Tech and used to drive up semi-regularly, during the winter, from the Detroit area. (We thought she was crazy ) I suspect you’re overestimating the disruption from the weather. Yes, if there’s actually a storm during your travel dates, you should probably expect to wait a day, but your customers will understand. Otherwise, they clear the roads really quickly.

mahasamatman

I'd take that over a CRJ any day.

lincolnjkc

The CRJ-200 is the best marketing props ever had...

exerda

Surprised they'd cancel the CKB (Clarksburg, WV) route; it serves the giant FBI datacenter. I have read many contingency plans citing using the CJIS facility for continuity of operations and spelling out that you can fly there nonstop from IAD (or drive 4+ hours). I honestly can't see Allegiant's schedule working for government traffic, and Allegiant is currently the only other airline serving CKB. But I've never seen many seats booked on the few occasions I've had cause to even look at flying that route, and random dates I checked a minute ago look totally empty.

Personally, it sucks to see LWB (Lewisburg, WV) on that list; that's the last airport near my parents which has any UA service that I can use. Those flights IME often are fairly full; certainly they were the several times I took them last summer & fall, even on random weekdays, when my mom was in the hospital and I was flying back and forth regularly. Lots of traffic to/from the Greenbrier resort. But they are cheap due to the EAS subsidy--under $200 r/t for economy right now--and I suppose if they weren't subsidized, the cost would be prohibitive. UA-coded EAS carriers dropped BKW (Beckley, WV) a while back; BLF (Bluefield, VA) lost all commercial service, IIRC, and CRW (Charleston, WV) has only ORD flights now on UA. ROA (Roanoke, VA) is the next-closest airport I suppose once LWB loses service, and it's over 2 hours by car. At that point, I can just drive the 5 hours from here (did I tell you I loathe driving?).

WineCountryUA

This was Skywest's (OO) decision and while costs may have been a factor, the pilot shortage is real for express carriers (with 1,500 hour rule)


UA and its express carrier have nearly 100 express aircraft parked for lack of pilots. The other majors are equally strapped.


Many have had to live with 2 hour drives for some time, 3 hours if traffic is bad.

Bear96

Pittsburgh is less than a two-hour drive away.

CPS89

Appreciate the advice- usually, when we're up there in the winter we're not leaving Houghton so I've never seen what the state roads look like. The way that some people talk about the UP I figured we'd be better off renting snowmobiles than cars.

SPN Lifer

CMX = Houghton County Memorial Airport, Hancock, Michigan

exerda

True, though I doubt many people flying the route for business would do the hour at the airport, hour flight, and 2 hour drive after when the entire route can be driven in 4-ish. Then again, no one seemed to use the route at all; leisure pax probably took the drive to PIT or even IAD.

I hadn't thought about the ongoing pilot shortage; that makes sense. That LWB route would seem to offer the chance to be profitable even absent the subsidy given it serves folks heading to the Greenbrier and government, but if you don't have pilots...

Of course I expect UA and its partners to cater to my travel preferences; I wish they'd bring back BKW service or even add service to the airstrip closer to my parents.
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exerda

I flew through LWB this past weekend, and the OO ground staff confirmed 10/31/22 is their last day to operate the routes (ex-IAD and ex-ORD) there. The new EAS operator, an AA affiliate, will take over after that. The flights were fairly empty FWIW, a vast difference from last summer, though I had one guy who'd gone SFO-IAD-SHD-LWB just to go to the distillery there (his pals had flown into ROA and were driving from there). There was far more traffic going SHD-LWB-ORD or v-v than O&D traffic on the IAD-LWB route.

I also spoke with the OO flight crew about the end of EAS service on the route, and the FA and copilot said something about a new pilots' contract meaning they should start filling pilot billets more easily / competitively, and that they're working to build OO as something crews see as a career and not just a springboard to the majors.

50Kthehardway

Was searching for flights to EAR (Kearney, NE) looks like UA/Skywest is gone. Service now through DEN on Key Lime Air (KG). I checked and they don't connect in EYW unfortunately. Planning to recommend my colleague fly to LNK/OMA and drive.

Any thoughts on KG or LNK vs. OMA?

Thanks