Route map adjustments from United Airlines continue to be made.
The Chicago-based airline over the weekend submitted plans to cut service to Hilo, Hawaii, effective January 7, as first seen in Cirium’s schedule and later confirmed received by a company spokesperson.
United used to fly to Hilo International Airport (ITO) from its hub in Los Angeles. These flights began in June 2011 and have operated pretty much all year round since (except for the nearly one-year pause during the pandemic).
Sign up for our daily newsletter
When the airline resumed mainland service to Los Angeles in 2011, it also added a route from its hub in San Francisco. However, that route was short-lived, as the airline scrapped it in August 2013, Cirium’s schedule shows.
That makes Los Angeles the airport’s only direct connection to the mainland. Hilo Airport is connected to Honolulu and Kahului / Maui with inter-island routes operated by a combination of Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Mokulele Airlines, but it will no longer provide direct service to the mainland.
In a statement confirming the move, United said that “we regularly adjust our schedules and continue to be the leader in service to Hawaii from the continental United States, including providing the most service to Kona of all U.S. carriers.”
Hilo, located in the northeast of the island of Hawaii (commonly known as the Big Island), has small town feel with a wide range of activities available to tourists and locals. The area is known for offering a more authentic Hawaiian experience for travelers looking to avoid some of the most touristy locations.
For visitors to the Big Island, visit the area near Kailua-Kona is usually a much more popular choice. Located on the west side of the island, there are lots of hotels and resorts dotted the Kailua-Kona coastline.
That area’s Kona International Airport (KOA) is served by the four largest US airlines with many direct connections to the mainland and beyond. In fact, United have won the headlines during the pandemic for launch the longest domestic non-stop flight to Kona from its hub in Chicago.
Kona Airport is about a 90-minute drive from Hilo Airport, so travelers traveling to or from the east side of the island can rent a car or hire a car service to get around. That said, it will still be significantly less convenient for travelers who are used to non-stop service from LA to Hilo.
United has a long history at its Hilo terminal, having its first flights started there in 1967. It even operated the iconic Boeing 747 to the airport in the 1970s. But. As passenger traffic declined in the following years, United withdrew from the airport in the mid-1980s.
The airline did not return to Hilo until pre-merger Continental Airlines began said service from Los Angeles and San Francisco in June 2011.
Of all the US airlines, United is one of the most active in terms of withdraw from unprofitable cities amid a shifting economy and – more broadly – a nationwide pilot shortage, although this has impacted carriers in the region the most. Overall, United has reduced service to more than 25 cities, as it seeks to balance supply (planes and pilots) with demand (ticketing). In this case, Hilo is the latest causality of United’s aggressive route map adjustments.
Interestingly, the airline is also making some adjustments to its international long-haul schedule. Last week, the carrier announced the transatlantic expansion in the summer of 2023includes three new markets as well as six new flights to existing European destinations.
What the airline did not mention is that it is canceling plans to connect its Newark hub with Bergen, Norway and Prague, two flights that were supposed to restart next summer.
