United Picks Up San Francisco to Missoula Route

United Express/SkyWest will again operate seasonal flights between San Francisco and Missoula, Montana. The flights operate once-daily between June 9 and November 3, 2010, utilizing a 50-seat Canadair regional jet.

United/SkyWest To Drop San Jose - Santa Barbara Route

KEYT is reporting United Express - SkyWest Airlines has decided to end flights between San Jose and Santa Barbara effective June 8, 2010. The airline operates up to five daily flights between the two cities, using 30-seat EMB-120 aircraft. In the report, the airline said flight loads were too low to continue offering service. Customers can continue fly SkyWest into Santa Barbara via SFO and LAX airports.

United Introduces Seasonal Flights From SFO to Montana and Alaska

United Airlines will begin seasonal service between several city pairs, including San Francisco (SFO) to Bozeman, Montana and to Anchorage Alaska. Both flights begin June 9th, and operate until August 23rd to Anchorage, November 3rd to Bozeman. Click here for the press release.

A Collection of United Airlines Aircraft Images

Here are a few of my favorite United Airlines/United Express aircraft images I've taken over the years. Although far from an exhaustive gallery of favorites, these six proudly represent the diversity of the United fleet and relatively recent changes to aircraft livery. Enjoy. =)

United Airlines Adding San Francisco - Kansas City Service

From the airline route updates blog & GDS timetable comes word United Airlines will launch a daily nonstop flight between San Francisco and Kansas City (MCI). The new service is scheduled to begin October 25th, utilizing a CRJ700 regional jet.

The flight departs SFO at 4:07PM arriving Kansas City at 9:31PM. The return flight departs at 8:51AM, arriving back in SFO at 10:45AM. Tickets for the nonstop are now available for purchase at united.com.

Currently, only Midwest Airlines serves the SFO-Kansas City market nonstop, also with one daily flight.

United Express To Start San Francisco to Pasco/Tri-Cities Service

Beginning June 4th, United Airlines/United Express will launch nonstop flights between San Francisco and Pasco/Tri-Cities Airport (PSC). Two daily flights will be offered on the route, utilizing a 50-seat, CRJ-200 jet aircraft, as shown below. 

Pasco is a small city located in Southeast Washington. The Tri-Cities region, which includes Pasco, Kennewick and Richland has a combined population of about 250,000 people. 

Schedule:

SFO-PSC  dp 08:54  ar 10:54

                  dp 19:00 ar 21:00

PSC-SFO  dp 06:31 ar 08:27

                  dp 16:35 ar 18:31

San Francisco to Palmdale Flights End Saturday

On Saturday, United Airlines/Skywest will end flights into Palmdale, a small airport located 90 minutes Northeast of Los Angeles. The airline had been struggling with just 30-40% passenger loads since it began the route in mid-2007. The cancellation of the route means Palmdale airport will no longer offer commercial airline service, ending, for now, one dreamed up solution to partially unclog LAX of air traffic congestion. 

Read more: earlier inFLIGHTout announcement of the route cancellation. 

United Express To Drop San Francisco to Palmdale

United Express will terminate flights between San Francisco and Palmdale in early December, according to Los Angeles airport officials. Over the years, Palmdale regional airport was sought after to help absorb some of the air traffic flying into nearby congested Los Angeles International.

In this most recent attempt, the federal government pumped in financial incentives to United during the first year of operations. The airline initially operated two daily flights on regional jets, then expanded to four daily flights using smaller aircraft. Unfortunately, the airline saw no significant improvement in flight loads, averaging a mere 30-40% of capacity. With federal incentives slashed, and the cost of jet fuel up, United's move to withdraw from Palmdale was probably an easy decision.

Service between the cities officially ends December 7, 2008.

United Express To Launch San Francisco - North Bend Service

United Express/Skywest Airlines will launch service between San Francisco (SFO) and North Bend (OTH) later on Monday, July 7th. The twice-daily flight will be operated by a 30-passenger Embraer-manufactured EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft. Travel time between SFO and North Bend, located in Southwest Oregon is just under two hours.

SkyWest Launches 2 New Routes From SFO Today

Enjoy the great outdoors with United Express/Skywest Airlines' new seasonal service from San Francisco to both Kalispell and Missoula, Montana. Flights begin today, and will be operated by Bombadier Regional jets, such as the one pictured to the left.

Visit http://www.ual.com/ for more information.

Several New Airline Routes & Destinations Begin This Summer

By Mike Grasso
Despite the recent pullback in the airline industry, new routes and destinations are being introduced throughout the Bay Area this summer. Although the airlines are thinning the total number of available seats in some markets by reducing plane size and limiting daily departures, they continue to expand in markets they deem profitable, either by anticipated market demand and/or government subsidies.

I've compiled a list of new routes, sorted by departure city, which will begin operating this summer, many in May and June alone. The list includes many exciting visits soon accessible from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and Monterey Airports.

With these added destinations, now is the time to begin thinking about Summer vacation plans!

San Francisco to:

• Austin, TX - JetBlue
• Milwaukee, WI- AirTran (seasonal service)
• Victoria, BC- United Express
• Bellingham, WA- Allegiant Airlines
• Kalispell, MT- United Express (seasonal service)
• Missoula, MT- United Express (seasonal service)
• Zurich, CH- BelAir Airlines (charter/seasonal service)
• North Bend, OR- United Express
• Klamath Falls, OR- United Express
• Dubai, UAE- Emirates Airlines (Begins October 26)
  

San Jose to:

• Denver, CO- Southwest Airlines
• Long Beach, CA- JetBlue

Oakland to:

• Honolulu, HI- Hawaiian Airlines
• Austin, TX- Southwest
  

Sacramento to:

• Philadelphia, PA- U.S Airways
• Charlotte, NC- U.S Airways
  

Monterey to:

• Las Vegas, NV- Allegiant Airlines

New Service: San Francisco to Klamath Falls & North Bend, Oregon

United Express & SkyWest Airlines have announced the introduction of daily flights from San Francisco to both Klamath Falls (LMT) and North Bend (OTH) beginning July 7, 2008. The twice daily flights to each destination will be operated by the 30-passenger Embraer-manufactured EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft.

SkyWest airlines serves 155 cities in 43 states, including a strong presence in smaller regional airports throughout California.

Tickets are currently available at http://www.united.com/

United to expand San Francisco to Eugene Service

On March 30th, United Airlines will resume regular mainline operations from San Francisco to Eugene, Oregon. In response to a downturn in the economy, United thinned capacity to Eugene in 2003 by utilizing smaller 50-66 seater (United Express/SkyWest) regional jets. Since then, demand has increased and flight loads averaged greater than 90%. The aircraft being put into service (Boeing 737's) will accommodate 110 passengers each.