United Express Expands Service to Small Cities in Atlantic States

United Airlines has recently announced plans to expand to nine new east coast cities. All of the cities will gain service to Washington-Dulles International Airport, which will allow for easy connections on United to many destinations across the country and around the world. United has said that the flights will be operated on behalf of United Express by Colgan Airlines, a regional airline concentrated in the Northeast.

The first cities to receive service will be Bradford, Pennsylvania, Jamestown, New York and Parkersburg West Virigina. Bradford, Pennsylvania is a small town nearly 100 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The town of approxamatly 18,000 will get change in the airline service they presently have, a connection to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Jamestown, New York is a town of nearly 30,000 located in extreme Western New York, very near to the shores of Lake, Erie. Similar to Bradford, Jamestown previously has only had service to Pittsburg, on US Airways, so this new service will allow for greater connections for local residents, as the flight is to Washington, D.C. Parkersburg, a town of 33,000, is the third-largest city in West Virgina, located on the banks of the Ohio River. Like both of the previous two towns, the only current service is to Pittsburg, however, it ends the day prior to the start of service by United Express on January 7^th.

On January 21^st United Express will start service to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Morgantown, West Virginia. Altoona, Pennsylvania and Johnstown, Pennsylvania will see service start on February 4^th. The final two cities, Beckley, West Virginia and Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, service will begin on February 18^th.

Colgan Air will be operating the flights on Saab 340 aircraft. The Saab 340 will seat 34 passengers, allowing for comfortable flights for passengers on these short flights. The Saab 340 is a twin engine, propeller driven airliner, which offers better fuel economy than a jet would on similar flights. The Saab 340 cruises at a speed of over 300 miles per hour at an altitude of 25,000 feet.

At the recent announcement, United Airlines Vice President of planning, Kevin Knight, had the following to say. "We are pleased to offer our east coast customers what they want - more air service with a convenient schedule and easy connections to cities across the world."

This new service is subsidized by the federal government as part of a guarantee that gives local communities access to commercial airline travel. By having subsidized flights, the airline can afford to fly to these very small cities at a reasonable price. Some flights are even profitable with no one on the flight, as the federal government still pays the airline. Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee of Senate Commerce, also had the following to say. "With today's announcement of direct service to Dulles, new and more reliable domestic and international travel options to our state are opening up. I commend Colgan and United for taking this step so that West Virginia businesses and families will have better air service options."