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United to drop United Airlines said today it is ending daily nonstop service between Chicago and Honolulu in February and starting a third daily nonstop flight between Maui and San Francisco.
Chicago service
The direct isle flights will
be discontinued in FebruaryBy Tim Ruel
Star-Bulletin
United, the nation's largest commercial aircraft carrier, is retiring the decades-old, 298-seat DC-10 aircraft that serviced Honolulu and Chicago, and is not replacing the route with another plane, United spokesman Chris Brathwaite said today. The company will no longer fly on DC-10s anywhere after February.
Brathwaite said United will not select another type of plane to fly the Chicago route because the company does not have agreements with pilots.
Fliers who already have tickets for flights scheduled after the service ends will fly between Honolulu and Chicago through the West Coast, Brathwaite said.
United, owned by Illinois-based UAL Corp. , is initiating another flight between Maui and booming San Francisco, which should offset any losses from Chicago, he said. The company is trying to start the San Francisco service around the time it closes the Chicago route.
Brathwaite could not estimate how the changes might affect Hawaii's overall visitor counts or spending.
He noted that the Bay Area's booming economy has spurred tourists to flock to Maui lately.
The San Francisco-Maui flight will be served by two alternating planes, a 182-seat Boeing 757 and a 348-seat Boeing 777.