Enhanced EWR and IAD flight schedules coming this fall

Customers in the New York area will soon enjoy access to more destinations, more non-stop flights and larger aircraft thanks to a series of schedule changes we announced today. Taking effect in October, these route adjustments will maximize the unique strengths of our two East Coast hubs by improving access to 17 popular markets from EWR while shifting short-haul connecting customers to IAD.


United offers more flights to more destinations from EWR than any other airline in the New York region – the largest air travel market in the country. At the same time, IAD offers connecting customers a more optimal schedule and better flight reliability in short-haul regional markets.


“Newark capacity is finite, so to grow we need to fly larger airplanes,” said Domestic Network VP Ankit Gupta. “Dulles has more capacity and, as such, presents a great opportunity for our connecting passengers who today make their connections in Newark.”


“Over the coming years, you’ll see us doing more of both – adding frequencies and connectivity in Dulles and eventually growing EWR to the point where it will be almost entirely mainline service,” Ankit added.


Here is a summary of the planned network changes we announced today, all effective October 4 unless otherwise noted:

Adding new nonstop seasonal service December 19-March 30 between EWR and PSP (Palm Springs, California)
Expanding seasonal service between EWR and EYW (Key West, Florida) to year-round
Increasing service to the following destinations from EWR: BNA (Nashville, Tennessee); BTV (Burlington, Vermont); CHS (Charleston, South Carolina); FLL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida); GSO (Greensboro, North Carolina); MCO (Orlando, Florida); MEM (Memphis, Tennessee); MSY (New Orleans, Louisiana); ORF (Norfolk, Virginia); PBI (West Palm Beach, Florida); PHX (Phoenix, Arizona); PIT (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); RSW (Fort Myers, Florida); SAT (San Antonio, Texas); SRQ (Sarasota, Florida)
Reallocating United Express flights from AVP (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania), CHA (Chattanooga, Tennessee) and ITH (Ithaca, New York) from EWR to IAD
From EWR, we will discontinue service to BWI (Washington-Baltimore), BDL (Hartford, Connecticut) and DSM (Des Moines, Iowa). We will continue to serve BWI, BDL and DSM from multiple hubs
We will suspend winter season service December 19-March 30 between EWR and SMF (Sacramento, California)

“We approached these schedule adjustments with our customers in mind, knowing that we wanted to create a schedule that offers customers beginning their travel in the New York City area convenient flights to many of the business and leisure destinations they travel to most,” Ankit said. “Since more of our customers begin their travel from New York/Newark than any other United hub city, our team went to create a more customer friendly schedule that removed connection times and provided convenient nonstop service to multiple U.S. destinations.”


We are contacting our customers with reservations on discontinued flights to offer them alternate flight options or provide refunds. All changes will be reflected in published flight schedules effective May 12. All impacted destinations will continue to be served by at least one United hub.

By Peter Rapalus