United slashes California service
| • | United says it will 'perish' without rally |
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — After spending millions of dollars to build service in California, United Airlines has announced drastic cuts in flights serving Los Angeles and San Francisco to compensate for plummeting demand sparked by the terrorist attacks.
Associated Press
At LAX, the third-busiest airport in the world, United is slashing its daily departures by 40 percent — from 178 to 104 flights, an airline official said yesterday.
The flight information boards at Los Angeles International Airport will be showing fewer listings for United Airlines as the carrier announced drastic cuts in flights serving Los Angeles and San Francisco to compensate for the lack of passengers following the terrorist attacks last month.
Another 77 flights will be eliminated at San Francisco International Airport. The 33 percent cut will leave United with 160 daily departures there. The cuts will primarily affect early morning and late-night flights.
"We will continue to serve all major destinations within California and across the U.S.," said Alan Wayne, regional director of public affairs for United. "We're adjusting schedules to weakened passenger demand."
The changes will require thousands of revisions to existing reservations. United, the nation's second-biggest airline, said it is in the process of contacting customers who made reservations for flights that will be changed by the cuts at the end of the month.
As part of its nationwide pullback, United also plans service cuts in San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland, Orange County and Ontario, Wayne said. The number of flights affected at those airports was not immediately available.
For Hawai'i, United officials said earlier this week there would be no additional reductions in its flights to the state. United operates 17 domestic flights to the Islands and one flight from Japan to Honolulu. It cut two California-Honolulu flights shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Earlier this month, the airline notified Hawai'i labor officials that it will begin furloughing employees at Honolulu International Airport around Oct. 19 because of the effects of the drop in business. At the time, United had no precise information on the number of employees to be furloughed. More than 700 of United's 1,800 Hawai'i employees work at the airport.
United said earlier this week that it is "still working through" the furlough decisions and has no information about the number of workers that will be affected.
About 25 of the flights eliminated at LAX will be picked up by smaller jets operated by United Express. Those flights will serve Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Phoenix and Tucson.
In another blow to LAX, Delta Air Lines said yesterday that beginning Dec. 1, it will eliminate its daily nonstop from Los Angeles to Nagoya, Japan, and its six weekly flights from Los Angeles to Tokyo.
"The tragic events of Sept. 11 lead us to conclude it's better ... to focus our resources on those markets where we can be most competitive and realize the greatest revenue generation opportunities," said Paul G. Matsen, a Delta senior vice president.
United, a unit of UAL Corp., has made major investments in recent years to renovate terminals and add flights in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The strategy helped make the airline the No. 1 carrier in terms of passenger volume at both airports.
In San Francisco, at least 40 percent of all passengers use United. At LAX, that figure is about 20 percent.
Despite the cutbacks, United is expected to remain the top carrier at both airports.
"They will just have fuller airplanes," said Ron Wilson, director of community affairs at the San Francisco airport. "You've got to expect airlines to make money, and you can't do that with half-full planes."
After the attacks, United joined nearly all the major airlines in making major reductions. The United moves in California are part of a systemwide downsizing by the company that Wayne said has lost about 25 percent of its business.
Before Sept. 11, the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based carrier offered 2,400 daily flights. The revised schedule calls for 1,664 flights.
United also has said it will cut at least 20 percent of its work force of about 100,000.
