United Airlines said it will reduce its domestic flying by 2 percent to 3 percent this year compared with 2006. United last month warned that it might reduce capacity because of weak domestic revenue, pointing to Denver as a key area where its revenues have suffered.
United spokesman Robin Urbanski said the airline is cutting back capacity across its entire system during periods of low demand. Using the Denver- Orlando, Fla., route as an example, Urbanski said, “We will still continue to fly there. We just may reduce the capacity of that flight on Tuesday and Saturday evenings.”
Meanwhile, United plans to increase flight capacity on its United Express regional operation.
For the summer, for example, United is shifting some of its routes to regional airline partners, Urbanski said. In the past it has shifted flights to regional jets as it cut back on capacity.
Low-cost carriers Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines have stepped up their competition in Denver. John Tague, United’s chief revenue officer, said last month, “Clearly, we’re under pressure in Denver, and we expect that to continue.”
United, the largest carrier at Denver International Airport, said the reduction will allow it to meet increasing demand for international flights.
The airline will increase international flight capacity by 0.5 percent, adding Los Angeles-Hong Kong and Washington, D.C.-Rio De Janeiro flights.
Feds cast eye on runway delays
U.S. airlines may be forced to increase public disclosure of instances when passengers get stuck in planes on runways, after a rash of those incidents.
The disclosure would include delays that occur after a plane leaves a gate and then returns, without taking off. Some airlines currently don’t report those delays, the Transportation Department said in a statement Thursday in Washington.
The airlines instead report the second time the flight departs, making it appear there was no long delay, the department said. The approach “disguises inconveniences that the passengers endured,” said Donald Bright of the department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
– John Hughes, Bloomberg News
