United's Denver flights to end; route might not

By Thomas V. Bona

BusinessRockford.com

After two years of inconsistent passenger numbers, United Airlines is ending its daily service between Chicago Rockford International Airport and Denver, effective June 4.

It’s the airport’s only daily route and the only service by a major legacy carrier.

“We worked very closely with airport officials on ways to make our service to Denver more popular, and there simply was not enough customer response to profitably operate the service, especially with today’s record-breaking fuel costs,” said United spokesman Jeff Kovick.

A replacement carrier will take over the Denver route and possibly add another route, according to a WREX-13 report.

Airport officials say they’re announcing new service to multiple destinations Thursday morning but declined to say whether Denver was one of them.

“We’ve been in discussion with United Airlines regarding their staying or leaving Rockford for probably the last two months,” said Mike Dunn, chairman of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority. “When it was determined that the airport and United could not come to an agreement on the future relationship, United was very gracious with us in allowing us time to look for a potential replacement for the Denver route.”

United flew the route since March 2006 on 50-seat commuter jets.

The airport subsidized the route by $2.6 million in its first year and a half, $1 million of which came from U.S. Department of Transportation funds.

Through last month, more than 107,000 passengers flew on the route, an average of 4,500 a month.

Passenger totals topped 5,000 a month last summer, after airport and United officials worked to tweak fares, but dropped to 3,500 last month when fares spiked amid high fuel costs. Flights that at one point were 80 percent to 90 percent full have been only 60 percent to 70 percent full in recent months.

“I’m very disappointed. We’ve been flying out there ever since they started the service,” said Joe Capone, a Rockford resident whose daughter lives in Denver. “It saves about three hours minimum, compared to going to O’Hare. ... There’s been more than once that I paid more to fly out of Rockford because it was more convenient. It’s a no-brainer.”

But the route’s failure likely hinged on its inability to secure enough business travelers, said airline consultant Joel Chusid. Business travelers will pay more for the convenience of last-minute bookings, raising the total income for each flight.

“Two (flights) a day is not enough. All you need is one canceled flight and a guy’s burned and never coming back,” Chusid said.

And small commuter jets are becoming less cost-efficient to operate because of high fuel prices, Chusid said. A better recipe for success is flying larger aircraft to leisure destinations, he said, which Allegiant Air has done in Rockford.

Mark Podemsi, vice president for the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, said losing direct service to Denver — plus connecting service to about 100 cities served by United — will hurt some local businesses looking for an alternative to O’Hare.

“Based on direct conversations that we’ve had with businesses over the past year, they were quite excited to have that service,” he said. “There were a couple of companies that really used it because of the connection to the West Coast.”

Denver International Airport, the nation’s fifth largest, is served by 20 airlines besides United.

Frontier Airlines, a low-cost carrier based in Denver, has no plans to come to Rockford, spokesman Joe Hodas said Tuesday.
Spokeswoman Marissa Snow of SkyWest Airlines — the operator of United’s Rockford to Denver route — said she wasn’t aware of a replacement carrier.

BusinessRockford.com Editor Deborah Austin contributed to this report.

Staff writer Thomas V. Bona may be contacted at 815-987-1343 or tbona@rrstar.com.

Airlines that remain
Allegiant Air: Year-round service to Orlando/Sanford, Fla.; Las Vegas; St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Fla.; Phoenix/Mesa, Ariz.; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Apple Vacations: Winter seasonal service to Cancun, Mexico

Southern Skyways: Summer seasonal service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., starts May 23

The departed

Several airlines have come to Chicago Rockford International Airport since regularly scheduled passenger service resumed in 2003. They have since closed up shop:

TransMeridian Airlines: 2003-05 to Orlando, Fla.*; and Las Vegas*

Hooters Air: 2004-05 to Atlanta; Denver; Myrtle Beach, S.C.*; Clearwater/St. Pete, Fla.*; and Las Vegas*

SunShip1: 2005 to Cancun, Mexico*

Vacation Express: 2005 to Mexico, Caribbean through Orlando

Northwest Airlines: 2005 to Detroit

United Airlines: 2005-08 to Denver

*Routes now being served by other airlines

 

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