United Adds New Routes from Chicago, Washington, D.C. Hubs

After lots of overseas expansion, United is bringing things a bit closer to home with a new set of domestic routes being announced from two of the airline's East Coast and Midwest hubs. The new services focus on something the airline hasn't given much attention to recently, which is small-town destinations. 
 

Chicago's New Service

Starting with United's stronghold in Chicago O'Hare, new services include direct flights to Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport (GUC) in Colorado and West Virginia's Morgantown Municipal Airport (MGW). Morgantown is actually a new destination for United, and in addition to Chicago, a second city will be served (covered further in the article). United has previously served the small West Virginia community, but that was last operated ten years ago in 2014.

Flights from Chicago to Morgantown will commence on Dec 13th with daily service onboard the airline's smallest jet, the CRJ-200. United's regional partner, SkyWest, will operate the flights under the United Express brand. Crested Butte trips from ORD will commence on February 15th, 2025, with a weekly Saturday-only flight onboard an E175 aircraft. SkyWest will also operate these nonstops under the United Express brand. 

New Flights at Washington-Dulles

Morgantown, WV sees the benefit of service beginning not only from Chicago-O'Hare, but Washington-Dulles as well. The growing hub just west of the nation's capital has seen decent growth from United over the last few years, and this service provides more options for those trying to not only reach the D.C. area, but connect onto further destinations worldwide. Additionally, United is beginning service to South Bend, Indiana from Dulles, expanding the airline's reach into the smaller community east of the Chicago metro.

South Bend service begins on December 3rd, with a daily E175 being operated on the route. This is the only addition to the network that will not be covered by Sky West and will instead be operated by Republic Airways, a more prominent East Coast regional airline. 
 

Morgantown service begins on December 13th in conjunction with the ORD flights, running as a single daily flight on the CRJ-200 (operated by Sky West). The D.C. flights, unlike Chicago, are actually running as an Essential Air Service (EAS) contract, which is subsidized by the government. However, the EAS subsidy only covers 5 of the 7 weekly flights, indicating United believes in more than just EAS potential for this route by adding the two missing weekly flights to make the service daily. 

It's Not All Good News Though

While no major changes were made, some routes were affected. Houston to Palm Springs and Chicago to West Palm Beach were both supposed to become year-round services, but those plans have been reverted back to keeping the routes winter seasonal. Also, previously announced service resumptions from Houston to Boise, ID and Hartford, CT have been cancelled. United flies to both of these airports from other cities, so it does not result in the closing of any stations. 

Summary

With these latest announcements, United is showing they are still giving recognition to their network of smaller cities, of which have historically seen major cuts ever since the pandemic occurred. This all comes ahead of a big network announcement in a few days that will expand the airline's vast international network again. And with these new flights to these smaller cities, United is giving more travelers in smaller places the ability to reach global destinations on one-stop itineraries.