United Airlines plans to end service in October at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and transfer its JFK flights to New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, its hub.
The airline will fly up to 17 daily round trips from Newark to San Francisco and up to 15 daily round trips from Newark to Los Angeles, leading the industry with a total of up to 10,000 round-trip seats offered per day on the two combined key transcontinental routes.
In conjunction with this move, United will bring its "p.s. Premium Service" to Newark. All regularly scheduled Newark-Los Angeles and Newark-San Francisco flights will offer flatbed seats in the United BusinessFirst cabin, premium in-flight service, more extra-legroom Economy Plus seats, and in-flight Wi-Fi and personal on-demand entertainment with individual seatback monitors and power ports for customers in every row.
"The introduction of p.s. to Newark Liberty, the New York/Newark region's premier airport, offers Los Angeles and San Francisco travelers the highest levels of service in the air and on the ground," says Jim Compton, United's vice chairman and chief revenue officer. "We are investing in the three critical components of the travel experience for our customers -- our network, our product, and our facilities."
But United's decision doesn't come as welcome news to everyone.
"There's nothing like a direct flight from JFK," says Debra Dohnert, senior manager-meetings, special events and travel at New York City-based American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "As a meeting planner, my CEO enjoys direct flights and it can impact decisions like not going to Tucson, Palm Springs, and recently even Austin. Newark is close but so very far away."
Pat Ahaesy, president and partner, P&V Enterprises -- an event planning, production, and management company, also based in New York City -- understands United's decision, but laments it.
"The decision to no longer have flights in and out of JFK obviously is an economic one, however, they will quite likely lose a lot of their business travelers whose travel is between L.A. and New York or SFO and JFK. Newark is a fine airport, but the taxi fare and tolls to get there from New York are quite expensive. This is definitely a negative for travelers."
Delta Air Lines plans to acquire United's JFK slots, and United plans to acquire slots from Delta in Newark. Each transaction is subject to regulatory approval. United will maintain its service at New York's LaGuardia Airport.