Pilot shortage forces United to suspend 15 regional routes
United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare) is temporarily dropping 15 regional routes and shifting some services to New York Newark from March 2022, amid a serious pilot shortage in the United States.
This comes after Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby explained to a US Senate hearing recently that United and its regional partners flying under the United Express brand had almost 100 regional aircraft grounded at present because of the pilot shortage in the US, which had been looming for the last decade but had now become a concerning reality.
“Which means, we just can’t at the moment fly to all the small communities that we would like to. It’s really about not having enough pilots,” Kirby said. “I’m a little less optimistic that that situation is going to reverse itself in the near term unless we do something to increase the supply of pilots. I expect it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.
Kirby pointed to the controversial and costly 1,500-hour rule – which requires US airline pilots to have 1,500 hours of flight time prior to being certified – as an impediment to regional airlines being able to hire pilots, contributing to the current shortage.
On inquiry by ch-aviation, a United Airlines spokeswoman said: “As we continue to evaluate our network and closely match supply with demand, United is making adjustments to our East Coast operations, including suspending service between Washington Dulles and several regional markets and shifting some service from Washington D.C. to New York/Newark. After these adjustments, United will still serve nearly the same number of destinations from Dulles that it did in 2019.”
“The pilot shortage contributed to these operational adjustments, but there are a number of factors that determine the long-term viability of a route that factored into this decision. We frequently review our route offerings and plan to add service back when market conditions improve. In March 2019, United served 107 destinations from its Washington Dulles hub. In comparison, IAD will serve 105 cities, only two fewer destinations in March 2022,” she said.
According to ch-aviation schedules data, United Airlines on March 3, 2022, will suspend the following destinations from Washington Dulles:
Akron/Canton
Asheville
Bangor
Erie
Grand Rapids, MI
Greensboro
Greenville/Spartanburg Int’l
Harrisburg Int’l
Ithaca
Milwaukee General Mitchell
Philadelphia Int’l
State College
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Wilmington, NC
Flights from Houston Intc’l to Destin-Fort Walton Beach will also be suspended on March 3, 2022.
Five of these destinations will instead be served from Newark as of March 4, 2022, including Harrisburg International, Ithaca, Philadelphia International, State College, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.