Denver and Regina no longer United by air
Mere months after United Airlines announced it was ending flights into Saskatchewan from Chicago, the airline says it’s also ending its daily service from Denver to Regina and Saskatoon.
Regina Airport Authority CEO Jim Hunter called the decision “most disappointing, particularly when both communities are experiencing record growth, reflecting the province’s outstanding economic performance.”
His Saskatoon counterpart, Stephen Maybury, added the two bodies plan to join forces to “fill the gap”
Regina Airport Authority president/CEO Jim Hunter. left by United’s exit from the province. “We think there’s great opportunities for air carriers to expand or enter into our market,” he said.
Hunter said United Airlines, which contracted the route to regional partner Skywest, cited several reasons including:
■ The lower Canadian dollar (which makes it more expensive for Canadians to travel to the U.S. and also means United gets paid in lower Canadian currency);
■ Competitive pricing with other U.S. airlines, and;
■ A robust American economy, which means there are more profitable ways for the aircraft to be used south of the border.
It also mentioned fleet replacement issues, which revolve around the age of the Bombardier RJ-50 50-seat regional jets used on this route. They are approaching 20 years of age and need to be replaced with more efficient types, airline pundits say.
“A whole perfect storm of circumstances,” said Hunter, who said some other medium-sized Canadian cities’ service is being reduced too.
Regina retains its 20-yearold twice-daily service to Minneapolis-St.Paul on Delta Airlines and WestJet’s service to Las Vegas — twice a week in summer and three times a week in the peak winter season.
United flew two flights each day into the Saskatchewan cities from Denver, site of one of its hubs. This service began in 2008 and ends Feb. 28.
The new came in a joint announcement by the Regina and Saskatoon airport authorities in which Hunter said it’s possible United might “return to the market should circumstances, from their perspective, become more favourable.”