United Plans Major Expansion of L.A. Flights : Carrier Will Add Destinations by June, Begin Feeder Service to Cities in West
United Airlines plans a major increase in the frequency of its flights in and out of Los Angeles by next June and will add a number of new destinations, the carrier plans to announce today.
United, which--with 15% of the total--already handles more passengers at Los Angeles International Airport than any other airline, will also launch service by its feeder airline, United Express, at LAX.
New cities to be served include Phoenix, Palm Springs, Oakland, Sacramento and Salt Lake City. On Jan. 31, United will increase the frequencies of its flights between Los Angeles and Chicago to 10 daily trips from seven.
United, which handled more than 2.3 million passengers at LAX in the first nine months of 1986, will increase its own daily departures and arrivals to 105 from 84. With United Express’ planned schedule of 65 daily flights by June, United will offer a total of 170 daily flights, more than twice the current level.
United, which employs 5,400 people in the Los Angeles area, estimated that at least 100 new workers--including pilots, flight attendants, reservation clerks and baggage handlers--will be hired for the added service.
James E. Goodwin, senior vice president-marketing, said in a telephone interview that the pending delivery of a large number of aircraft, coupled with the necessity to funnel passengers into the Pacific routes purchased early this year from Pan American World Airways, resulted in the LAX expansion.
Last week, United took delivery of its first B-737-300, a relatively quiet and fuel-efficient airliner. United has orders for 110 of these aircraft to be delivered before 1990, Goodwin noted. “As these new aircraft join United’s fleet, we are able to expand our services at Los Angeles and in other major markets,” he said. United, which serves all 50 states, is expected to carry 50 million passengers for the first time this year.
United Express, whose planes are painted in United colors and whose ground and flight employees will wear uniforms resembling those of United, is actually privately owned WestAir of Fresno. It became a UAL feeder operator in 1983, flying in and out of San Francisco, and assumed the name United Express in July.
It will begin service from United’s terminal at LAX on Jan. 6 with 31 departures to San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Orange County, Palm Springs, San Diego and Fresno.
WestAir, which operates 26 turboprop planes built in Ireland and Brazil, has 500 employees. At LAX, its ticket counters will be staffed by UAL employees, but WestAir employees will perform gate, ramp and operating functions.
The feeder relationship between United and WestAir is part of a trend in the airline industry. In January, 1983, there were nine such arrangements in the United States, but that number has grown to 66.
The relationships appear to benefit both the commuter airlines that typically take part in the arrangements and their larger partners.
The smaller carrier is able to use the larger carrier’s designation code on reservations computers--a competitive advantage--and may also use the partner’s airport gates and other facilities. Perhaps most important, it trades on the name of the bigger airline.
For the major carriers, such feeder arrangements bring passengers into their hub airports. These passengers can then be flown from the hubs on the major lines’ long flight legs.
In the case of United, the feeder carrier will bring in passengers to Los Angeles who will then transfer to Hawaii and other parts of the United States and to its new destinations in the Pacific.
In other areas, United has similar arrangements with Aspen Airways and with Air Wisconsin.
On its new routes, United will compete with such carriers as PSA, AirCal, Western, Southwest and America West airlines.
Western spokesmen declined to comment on United’s new moves. William Hastings, a spokesman for PSA, said: “United is a 5,000-pound gorilla. They have been our major competitor since we started in 1949. But we’ll meet them head on. It will be hard to penetrate our frequencies. We serve 15 cities out of Los Angeles with 115 flights daily.”
Charlotte Goddard, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines--with whom United will compete between Phoenix and Los Angeles--said: “Our low cost structures and high frequencies (16 round trips) will be hard to compete with.”
Daphne Decino, manager of corporate communications for America West Airlines, which has 21 flights between Los Angeles and Phoenix, said the competition was welcome. “It will be good for the consumer.”
