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United is on the offensive. Or so it would seem, based on Scott Kirby’s recent comments at an employee town hall:
In Chicago, we have massive advantages…If people want to talk about our long-term plan for Chicago, it’s to grow it incredibly, and I hope to someday take over those gates that currently have the AA on them. We have the winning hand here. We should win in Chicago.
Per that same Skift.com article above, today, United operates roughly 30 more flights per day that American. Well, come this summer, United is widening the gap, with 11 new flights per day across six routes. This announcement also added routes to four other United hubs: Denver, Newark, Houston, and San Francisco.
New routes added by United. All year-round except for ORD-RNO. Map courtesy of gcmap.com
New Routes
Here are the details, with routes starting this summer:
- Chicago O’Hare to Champaign, IL – 3x daily Embraer ERJ145
- Chicago O’Hare to Charlottesville, VA – 1x daily CRJ200
- Chicago O’Hare to Columbia, MO – 2x daily CRJ200
- Chicago O’Hare to Reno, NV – 1x daily A319 (seasonal)
- Chicago O’Hare to Rochester, MN – 3x daily Embraer ERJ145
- Chicago O’Hare to Spokane, WA – 1x daily A320
- Denver, CO to Columbia, MO – 1x daily CRJ200
- Denver, CO to San Luis Obispo, CA – 1x daily Embraer E-175
- Houston, TX to Springfield, MO – 2x daily Embraer ERJ145
- Newark, NJ to Sacramento, CA – 1x daily A319
- San Francisco, CA to Hartford, CT – 1x daily A319
- San Francisco, CA to Santa Rosa, CA – 3x daily CRJ200
- San Francisco, CA to Spokane, WA – 2x daily Embraer E-175
- San Francisco, CA to Detroit, MI – 1x daily A319
Conclusion
It looks like United is aggressively trying to retain control of Chicago O’Hare, and adding these routes will only assert their dominance. They may not be “sexy” additions, but for business travelers, the more destinations, the better!
Will you be booking one of these new United routes this summer?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Great for me! I live about 55 minutes away from BDL, and us and people we know fly to SFO and Asia a lot! I hope this route is successful. As for the other routes, I do not really care.
first 3 are college towns not sure if coincidence or not but with few seats could make some sense for that market.
It’s always great when airlines open up new routes. A lot of these are to smaller markets. I noted the RST route. That is a good alternative airport for people in Minneapolis. You can frequently find lower prices by booking a connecting flight via Rochester. What route will you be taking soon?
I saw their release on one of these said 3x daily from SFO to Santa Rosa not 1x
You are correct, I have fixed above.