Booking some partner awards using Air Canada's Aeroplan loyalty program is about to get a lot less predictable — and that includes redemptions on United Airlines.
29.01.2025 - 15:07 / thepointsguy.com / Andrew Nocella
United Airlines is rebuilding its domestic network after dropping 41 cities from its route map since the pandemic started.
The Chicago-based carrier filed plans over the weekend to add service from Denver to Farmington, New Mexico, beginning on May 8, as first seen in Cirium timetables and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.
United Express affiliate SkyWest Airlines will operate the route on behalf of United using a 50-seat all-economy CRJ-200 regional jet.
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With this new route, United will bring commercial air service back to Farmington's Four Corners Regional Airport (FMN) for the first time since 2017, Cirium schedules show. (Extra props to the aviation enthusiasts who knew the airport's three-letter code without looking it up.)
Farmington was last served by commercial air service in 2017, when now-defunct United Express partner Great Lakes Airlines flew to Denver (as well as Page and Prescott in Arizona), according to Cirium data.
Of course, this move is especially exciting for those based near Farmington, as they'll now be connected with United's rapidly growing Denver hub, which offers hundreds of daily nonstop flights to cities across the world.
In fact, the excitement from the local community was palpable in a statement penned by Nate Duckett, the mayor of Farmington:
Meanwhile, for United, adding a new domestic route-map pin is a big deal, especially since the carrier had exited a whopping 41 U.S. cities since April 2020, according to data from aviation consulting firm Ailevon Pacific. The latest exit, Lewiston, Idaho, takes effect on Feb. 1.
In recent years, United seems to have prioritized long-haul growth over rebuilding its domestic connectivity. (Just look at the splashy route announcements that captured mainstream headlines over the past few summers.)
This year, however, it seems that the tide may be turning, and United is once again paying attention to domestic connectivity.
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Andrew Nocella, United's chief commercial officer, just told investors on its fourth-quarter earnings call that it's become a priority to rebuild its bank structure in Chicago, Denver and Houston.
"Our hubs are fantastic, but they lack the same level of connectivity that we see at some of our larger [other airline] competitor hubs. And so we're going to be able to close that gap materially in 2025, which I think is going to be really good for our relative RASM results as we go forward," said Nocella, using airline vernacular for "revenue per available seat mile" — a common industry measure of financial performance.
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Booking some partner awards using Air Canada's Aeroplan loyalty program is about to get a lot less predictable — and that includes redemptions on United Airlines.
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