United Express

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United Express
250px
IATA ICAO Callsign
various various various
Founded 1985
Hubs
Frequent-flyer program MileagePlus
Airport lounge United Club
Alliance Star Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size 566 as of Jan 22, 2015
Parent company United Continental Holdings
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois
Key people Oscar Munoz (President and CEO)

United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which nine individually owned regional airlines operate short and medium haul feeder flights. Mainline carriers often use regional airlines to operate services in order to increase frequency, serve routes that would not sustain larger aircraft, or for other competitive reasons. They primarily connect smaller cities with United's domestic hub airports and focus cities, although they offer some point-to-point service.

On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged to form United Continental Holdings, the holding company for the newly merged United Airlines. As Continental and United merged, Continental Connection and Continental Express has gradually adopted the United Express brand name, bringing the number of operators to twelve and the number of aircraft to over 550. The first aircraft painted into the new United Express livery was an Embraer ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet.

As of November 30, 2011, after United had received its Single Operating Certificate following its merger with Continental Airlines, nearly 550 aircraft fly under the United Express brand.

On July 1, 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced that Colgan Air would be merged into Mesaba Airlines. In September 2010, SkyWest, Inc., announced the merger of Atlantic Southeast Airlines and ExpressJet which will make ExpressJet the largest United Express carrier post merger.

History of United Express

File:United Express logo (c. 1980).svg
United Express Logo (1985–1993)
File:United Express logo (c. 1990).svg
United Express Logo (1993–1998)
File:United Express logo (c. 2000).svg
United Express Logo (1998–2010)
United Express Embraer ERJ 145 at Hermanos Serdán International Airport (PBC); Puebla, Mexico

Major airlines in the United States had long maintained relationships with regional carriers which fed passengers from small markets to larger cities. The Airline Deregulation Act spurred industry consolidation both vertically and horizontally, and as the hub system became more pronounced, airlines formalized these relationships through code sharing, shared branding, and listing regional partners in computer reservations systems. On May 1, 1985, United formally partnered with Air Wisconsin, Aspen Airways, and WestAir as United Express, feeding its hubs at Chicago-O'Hare, Denver-Stapleton, and San Francisco International Airports. Air Wisconsin and Aspen would merge in 1991.

In 1988, Presidential Airways became a United Express carrier for United’s new hub at Washington Dulles International Airport, but soon floundered. In response, WestAir formed an eastern division to serve Dulles.[1] WestAir itself experienced turmoil; in 1991 it spun off the new division into an independent company, Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), which years later would go on to become Independence Air.

In 1992, Great Lakes Airlines became a United Express partner, followed by Trans States Airlines the following year. In 1997, as United officially designated Los Angeles International Airport one of its hubs, SkyWest Airlines became a United Express partner as well. Great Lakes left the United Express system in 2001, although it continues to codeshare some routes with United.

In 1993, Trans States Airlines started United Feeder Service, to operate British Aerospace BAe ATP aircraft for United Airlines. The aircraft, originally owned by Air Wisconsin, were transferred and subsequently owned by United. UFS operated routes to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) from close markets in the U.S. Upper Midwest. UFS was eliminated from the United Express carrier network in 1999, and disappeared.

When United declared for Chapter 11 reorganization in 2002, it pressured its regional partners for reduced fees. In 2004, ACA canceled its contract and reinvented itself as low-cost carrier Independence Air. The next year, Air Wisconsin unsuccessfully bid to retain its flying contract, thought it did retain some ground-handling United Express operations. To compensate, United initiated new service agreements with Colgan Air, Trans States subsidiary GoJet Airlines, and Republic Airways Holdings subsidiaries Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America.

In 2005, United announced that service levels on major United Express routes would be upgraded to a new product called explus. Routes with explus service offer first class seats and meal service on larger, 70-seat Embraer 170 and 66-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft.[2] Expanding the traditional regional partner role, United started to use the airplanes configured with explus amenities instead of, or alongside with, mainline jets on routes linking large cities, such as Chicago to Houston.

United announced a new Express focus city at San Antonio International Airport in 2006, but the experiment was short-lived.

United decided to cancel Dash 8 and CRJ200 service with Mesa Airlines in November 2009.[3] On November 16, 2009 it was announced that ExpressJet would begin operating Embraer ERJ 145 beginning in the spring of 2010.[4] Dash 8 and Mesa Airlines CRJ200 service stopped.

All Continental Express and Continental Connection service officially merged into United Express in late 2011.

On April 1, 2012, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. filed for bankruptcy and announced it would draw down its Colgan Air operation. In May, United reached a deal with Republic Airways Holdings for its subsidiary Republic Airlines to fly the Q400 in Colgan’s place. The eight-year capacity purchase agreement includes all 28 aircraft previously operated by Colgan as well as four currently flown by Republic for Frontier Airlines.

In August 2015, United announced the start of a new subsidiary, United Ground Express, to provide ground operation service in select airports within its domestic network.[5]

Operators and fleet

As of July 2015, the combined United Express branded fleet currently consists of the following regional jet aircraft:[6][7]

United Express Fleet
Airline IATA Service ICAO Code Call Sign Parent Aircraft Number in Fleet Orders Passengers Notes
F Y+ Y Total
Cape Air 9K KAP Cair Hyannis Air Service, Inc. ATR 42 2 46 46
CommutAir C5 UCA CommutAir Champlain Enterprises, Inc. Bombardier Q200 16 37 37
Bombardier Q300 5 50 50
ExpressJet EV ASQ Acey SkyWest, Inc. Embraer ERJ-135 5 37 37 To be retired by February 2016.[8]
Embraer ERJ-145 191 50 50 Older aircraft being retired.
A total of 30 aircraft to be transferred to Trans States Airlines
GoJet Airlines G7 GJS Lindbergh Trans States Holdings Bombardier CRJ-700 25 6 16 48 70
Mesa Airlines YV ASH Air Shuttle Mesa Air Group Bombardier CRJ-700 20 6 16 48 70
Embraer E-175 30 15 12 16 48 76
Republic Airlines YX RPA Brickyard Republic Airways Holdings Bombardier Q400 25 7 10 54 71 To be retired by September 2016
Shuttle America S5 TCF Mercury Republic Airways Holdings Embraer E-170 38 2 6 16 48 70
Embraer E-175 12 16 48 76 Deliveries begin July 2015[9]
SkyWest Airlines OO SKW SkyWest SkyWest, Inc. Bombardier CRJ-200 69 50 50 50 aircraft to remain in service at the end of 2015.
Bombardier CRJ-700 70 6 16 48 70 Older aircraft to be retired.
Embraer E-175 40 18 12 16 48 76
Trans States Airlines AX LOF Waterski Trans States Holdings Embraer ERJ-145 40 19 50 50 Older aircraft being retired.
Receiving 30 aircraft from ExpressJet

Destinations

Further information: United Express destinations

Accidents and incidents

  • On December 26, 1989, United Express Flight 2415 operated by North Pacific Airlines, a BAe Jetstream 31 crashed on approach to Tri-Cities Airport near Pasco, Washington. The four passengers and two crew members onboard were killed. The crew executed an excessively steep and unstabilized ILS approach. That approach, along with improper air traffic control commands and aircraft icing, caused the aircraft to stall and crash short of the runway.[10]
  • On January 7, 1994, Atlantic Coast Airlines Flight 6291 operated for United Express, a BAe Jetstream 41 crashed on approach to Port Columbus International Airport. Five passengers and three crew members were killed and three passengers survived the accident. The NTSB report concluded the aircraft was never properly stabilized for the approach to 28L. The aircraft slowed to a stall, which was not recognised by the flight crew in a timely manner. The subsequent stall recovery was performed contrary to the Airplane Flight Manual procedure, which resulted in the aircraft impacting the ground less than 2 miles from the runway.

References

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  6. United Airlines - Seat maps and aircraft information – United Airlines. United.com. Retrieved on 2014-10-21.
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  8. http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-fleetInfo
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  10. 10.0 10.1 Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "asn" defined multiple times with different content

External links