Planes make a changeover
Laura Sturza
Passengers with tickets for United Airlines flights from
Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport will depart as scheduled, but
starting Sunday, travelers flying to Denver and San Francisco will
have additional flight options.
Some United Express flights to those destinations will be on
smaller, 50-seat regional jets that are an upgrade from traditional
turbo-propeller planes because they are faster, quieter and more
spacious, United Airlines spokesman Chris Braithwaite said.
The change means more choices because four round-trip flights will
go to Denver versus two, and eight round-trips will fly to San
Francisco versus seven, Braithwaite said.
None of the new departures or arrivals occurs during the
airport’s voluntary curfew of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., though one existing
United Airlines flight to San Francisco departs at 6:40 a.m. daily,
Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill said.
Ticket rates are unlikely to be affected.
“A price change would not be tied to a change of planes,”
Braithwaite said. “The market dictates price, not the size of the
planes.”
Though more jets will be taking off, they are quieter than the
Boeing 737-300 planes used for other flights, Gill said.
“We have never had a noise complaint about [these regional jets],”
Gill said.
Though the flights will be ticketed by United and the planes will
have the carrier’s logo, they will be operated by SkyWest Airlines.
The single-cabin jets feature leather seats in a two-by-two
arrangement, so every seat is along a window or an aisle, SkyWest
Airlines spokesman Phil Gee said.
Because SkyWest’s smaller, regional jets are more cost effective
to operate than larger planes, the change is aimed at helping
United’s bottom line.
“United is restructuring during Chapter 11 [bankruptcy filing],”
Gee said. “Part of their return to profitability includes more use of
the regional jet.”