UA-CO To Use UAX Flights Between BWI And ORD? — Civil Aviation Forum

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UA-CO To Use UAX Flights Between BWI And ORD?

777fan From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 2402 posts, RR: 3
Posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 4515 times:

Just began looking at United's offerings between BWI and ORD for the coming spring and to my dismay, noticed that one of the daily mainline flights on each leg has apparently been swapped for UAX service:

7:43 PM BWI - 8:55 PM ORDUnited 5976 Operated byUNITED EXPRESS/ EXPRESSJET AIRLINES

4:30 PM ORD - 7:15 PM BWIUnited 5976 Operated byUNITED EXPRESS/ EXPRESSJET AIRLINES

I've flown on dozens upon dozens of UA flights to/from BWI for the better part of a decade and can't recall a load that was less than 85%. BWI has been served by everything in the fleet from a 763 (as recently as the early 2000s), to a 735, but most commonly hosts a mix of 752s and A319/20 (mostly 752s and -20s for the summer travel season) with load factors pushing the limits of available capacity which is why I was surprised to see one of the more popular offerings downgraded capacity-wise.

Does anyone in the know have any insight into this development as it pertains to UA-CO's presence at BWI? Is this a long term change or a temporary fix? Seems the merger wouldn't have too much of an effect on this route since it was only served (nonstop) by UA although it's worth noting ExpressJet just happens to be CO's regional carrier out of BWI. One would think that longer term, UA-CO might take advantage of some available 738s to keep the route mainline since capacity doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

777fan

DC-861/63/71 DC-9-30/50 MD-80/82/83 DC-10-10/30 MD-11 717 721/2 732/3/4/5/G/8 741/2/4 752 762/3 777 A306/319/20/33 AT7 C

15 replies: All unread, jump to last

ORD2PHL From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 310 posts, RR: 0
Reply 1, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 4474 times:

Cannot say that this is surprising, UA has been doing this to a number of markets on the east coast from ORD that you would think a few years ago would not have gone Express. For the better part of seven years I've been on dozens of flights between ORD and PHL (a Star hub mind you) that would see multiple 752s and A319/20 service daily. Not only have they cut frequency by one or two but they have shifted some service to ExPlus RJ's during the day. I think it's likely been the result of n/b aircraft availability. They have done the same thing to EWR and even LGA, so I don't think the BWI reductions/equipment changes have anything really to do with the merger.

I also flew BWI-ORD consistently from 1999-2003 and remember the regular 763s, these were my college days in Baltimore, would always seek out the 1 or 2 763's that would be on the daily schedule.

Just my $.02

ORD2PHL

UnitedTristar From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1241 posts, RR: 4
Reply 2, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 4403 times:

Quoting 777fan (Thread starter):
Does anyone in the know have any insight into this development as it pertains to UA-CO's presence at BWI?

VERY temporary!

check Feb, its back to normal!

-m

Welcome aboard United Airlines L1011 Friendship Service to Osaka!

TOMMY767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9
Reply 3, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 4221 times:

E145s between BWI-ORD is a downgrade but for a while EWR-ORD has been CR7s on both UA and AA (will be 170s soon with UA.) For a late day frequency, it makes sense but not sure why the 4:30pm one out of BWI is a 145. I feel that time slot used to be a 763 back in the early 2000s

"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller

Lawair From United States of America, joined Jan 2009, 186 posts, RR: 0
Reply 4, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 4163 times:

I flew a DC-10 on ORD-BWI as recently as 2001 (I think). It was a July 4th flight though and was probably 25% full. Weirdest flight I've had so far.

PHLwok From United States of America, joined May 2007, 375 posts, RR: 0
Reply 5, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 4143 times:

Quoting ORD2PHL (Reply 1):
I think it's likely been the result of n/b aircraft availability.

Right, this started concurrent with the 737 retirements - ORD-PHL used to get a lot of 737-300/500s in with the 319/320/752 mix.

DCA-ROCguy From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 4402 posts, RR: 37
Reply 6, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 4110 times:

Quoting Lawair (Reply 4):
I flew a DC-10 on ORD-BWI as recently as 2001 (I think). It was a July 4th flight though and was probably 25% full. Weirdest flight I've had so far.

I used to see UA DC-10's regularly on my visits to BWI in the late 90's.

I also remember CO 752's at BWI in the mid-late 00's. Around 2006-2007, you could see 752's of all (then) six legacy carriers at BWI. Not necessarily at once on a given day, but over the course of a few visits you'd see all six.

Quoting UnitedTristar (Reply 2):
VERY temporary! check Feb, its back to normal!

Glad to read that the use of UAX on the route is temporary. Is the airline taking advantage of winter and perhaps slower travel demand to do maintenance on the larger a/c?

Jim

ramprat74 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1456 posts, RR: 2
Reply 7, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3985 times:

I heard from management that they will be taking five aircraft a week out of service to repaint them, starting the first week of January. You will probably see tons of UAX subs for the first quarter of 2011.

kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3650 posts, RR: 1
Reply 8, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3984 times:

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Quoting DCA-ROCguy (Reply 6):
I used to see UA DC-10's regularly on my visits to BWI in the late 90's.

I'm just speculating here, but I would think the answer probably lies in FL/WN departures. Flights into MDW and MKE by AirTran and Southwest could be expected to cut into United's ORD business.

kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3650 posts, RR: 1
Reply 9, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3942 times:

Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 8):
I'm just speculating here, but I would think the answer probably lies in FL/WN departures. Flights into MDW and MKE by AirTran and Southwest could be expected to cut into United's ORD business.

A second guess would be the five airframe paint lines UA will allegedly be operating starting in February.
Something has gotta give to make that possible (like the 2 X daily DCA-ORD S5 service that frees up one United mainline jet).

DC8FanJet From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 380 posts, RR: 0
Reply 10, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3850 times:

Quoting ramprat74 (Reply 7):
I heard from management that they will be taking five aircraft a week out of service to repaint them, starting the first week of January. You will probably see tons of UAX subs for the first quarter of 2011.

Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 9):
A second guess would be the five airframe paint lines UA will allegedly be operating starting in February.
Something has gotta give to make that possible (like the 2 X daily DCA-ORD S5 service that frees up one United mainline jet).

With 5 a/c out for paint at a time, UAX will be doing backfill.

777fan From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 2402 posts, RR: 3
Reply 11, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 3583 times:

Quoting DCA-ROCguy (Reply 6):
I used to see UA DC-10's regularly on my visits to BWI in the late 90's.

Almost forgot about those guys. I think I might have flown a -10 on this route once and IIRC, it was an unexpected sub for a 763 (due to weather or something).

Quoting UnitedTristar (Reply 2):
VERY temporary!

check Feb, its back to normal!

-m

Definitely not back to normal (see below).

Quoting DCA-ROCguy (Reply 6):
Glad to read that the use of UAX on the route is temporary. Is the airline taking advantage of winter and perhaps slower travel demand to do maintenance on the larger a/c?

I didn't note it in the OP, but the affected "spring" dates to which I was referring are in the first week of April. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is the result of repainting which is to begin in a few weeks and will indeed be temporary. Seems to me UA-CO would do pretty well at BWI given the load factors which were solid even before they cut some frequencies (yes, I know that load factors don't necessarily equate to a profit). Seriously though, is an ERJ-145 (and its ~60 seats) the best they could do?! The temporary lack of E+ (let alone F) probably won't sit well with some frequent fliers.

777fan

DC-861/63/71 DC-9-30/50 MD-80/82/83 DC-10-10/30 MD-11 717 721/2 732/3/4/5/G/8 741/2/4 752 762/3 777 A306/319/20/33 AT7 C

UnitedTristar From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1241 posts, RR: 4
Reply 12, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 3493 times:

Quoting 777fan (Reply 11):
Definitely not back to normal (see below).

yesterday it showed 7 daily mainline mix of airbus and 757 aircraft in Feb

today it shows 7 daily but 3 are 145's in Feb!

I also just pulled up June, its all mainline again

-m

[Edited 2010-12-16 16:13:49]

Welcome aboard United Airlines L1011 Friendship Service to Osaka!

ramprat74 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 1456 posts, RR: 2
Reply 13, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 3394 times:

BWI has been lucky. They have been all mainline in the past. With stations like PHL and EWR getting UAX mixed in their schedules.

kgaiflyer From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 3650 posts, RR: 1
Reply 14, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3225 times:

Quoting UnitedTristar (Reply 12):
yesterday it showed 7 daily mainline mix of airbus and 757 aircraft in Feb

today it shows 7 daily but 3 are 145's in Feb!

A handful of Expressjet's planes (in *both* UAX colors and BTA colors) have been fitted with XM Satellite Radio. Flying BWI-ORD, it would be nice if they made it operational.

777fan From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 2402 posts, RR: 3
Reply 15, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2400 times:

Quoting ramprat74 (Reply 13):
BWI has been lucky. They have been all mainline in the past. With stations like PHL and EWR getting UAX mixed in their schedules.

I suppose, but when you consider PHL and EWR are hubs for both US and CO, it makes sense for UA to not use their metal (or at least not much of it).

Quoting kgaiflyer (Reply 14):
A handful of Expressjet's planes (in *both* UAX colors and BTA colors) have been fitted with XM Satellite Radio. Flying BWI-ORD, it would be nice if they made it operational.

It would be nicer if they made it a 757! I think most frequent fliers (particular with UA) would agree they'd rather have the extra space E+ (or F) provides. I can bring an iPod or a book onboard but I can't bring a La-Z-boy.

777fan

DC-861/63/71 DC-9-30/50 MD-80/82/83 DC-10-10/30 MD-11 717 721/2 732/3/4/5/G/8 741/2/4 752 762/3 777 A306/319/20/33 AT7 C

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