nwt0

It seems like a lot of once-routine nonstop destinations served by UA from ORD are being dramatically decreased in frequency, being subjected to brief seasonal turns that sometimes aren’t even daily or being permanently axed. Is UA not big on ORD anymore despite it being their home airport and are the Chicago-area airports in general on the downturn? It seems like a lot of nonstop routes out of Chicago’s airports are vanishing these days or being significantly pared back.

tcdtcd

Other than some EAS routes being terminated, as they are everywhere, I don’t see much reduction. Increases, if anything.

Can you provide some specific examples?

nwt0

RNO and GEG were always well-covered by one airline or another through ORD or MDW, but now a days, they seem to only be available as seasonal red eyes. I feel like more cities could be on the chopping block soon like ELP, PNS, HSV, CAE, AVP and RAP. What markets served from ORD/MDW are at risk or being shut down entirely or reduced to iffy at best seasonal status?

EWR764

What makes you think any of those markets are on the chopping block? And what era were you referring to?

WineCountryUA

UA has a daily nonstop ORD-GEG, year around
Same for RNO

Some EAS flights by Skywest / United Express have been cut, United dropping a number of smaller domestic airports starting 4 Jan 2022 but not the airports you listed

UA does not use MDW

Are you talking about UA or other airlines?

xliioper

ORD-RNO is not scheduled to operate from Sep 30th through Dec 14th. ORD-ASE also will not operate during this period. ORD-GEG and ORD-FAT schedules were reduced this past weekend and they were dropped for parts of Fall and Winter with a brief return around the holidays and then resuming again on March 3rd. ORD-SMF/SLC took pretty big cuts this past weekend and were reduced to 2x daily for November and 3x for December (had been loaded at 4x daily for both months).

It seems all the major airlines are reducing flights served by regional airlines (it's not just UA) due to regional pilot shortages. As an example, a lot of DL regional airline routes out of DTW that had been at 3-4x daily flights last summer are now down to only 1-2x daily flights. Hard to imagine the regional routes with only 1 daily flight are sustainable long-term.

WineCountryUA

But not in Nov, resuming in mid-December thru June 2023. Missed the November dropout so 11 month s out of the next 12 -- nearly yeararound

The same November dropout but service for the rest of 2022
...

xliioper

The schedule above for 2169 for ORD-RNO is a "direct" flight and actually connects through SFO. Notice the 1 stop and change in gauge of aircraft from 777 to 738.

jsloan

Why the scare quotes? Surely there is nothing more natural than a direct flight that overflies the destination by 200 miles, stops, and has a change of gauge!

(This is exactly why I cringe whenever someone asks if there's a "direct" flight. I always want to scream, "That's not (necessarily) what you want!"

WineCountryUA

You are correct, the "0 connections" lead me astray but it is still 10 out of the next 12 months as a non-stop (but that could change)