Orange County, California to Hawaii flights operated by United during the pandemic is coming to an end.
As first noted in Cirium timetables and then confirmed by a carrier representative, the Chicago-based carrier will stop operating flights between John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu on February 25, 2023.
On May 6, 2021, the route made its debut with a once-daily service.
It started out when United was trying to take advantage of the spike in summer travel demand to Hawaii during the pandemic.
In September 2022, the airline's daily service changed to once-weekly flights, most likely as a result of lower-than-anticipated demand from Orange County.
After operating in the market for almost two years, the airline has decided to stop all operations on flights from Orange County to Hawaii.
Without United, travelers from the Los Angeles region will have to go to Long Beach Airport (LGB) or Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), both of which continue to have a tonne of flights to the 50th state.
United operates seven daily flights to Hawaii from its headquarters in Los Angeles, with three of those flights going to Honolulu.
We frequently assess our schedule and make adjustments depending on a number of variables, including where we perceive stronger demand for travel, a United representative said in a statement confirming the decrease.
When it was in operation, United provided the only nonstop service from Orange County to Hawaii.
According to Cerium timetables, Orange County hadn't been connected to Hawaii for nearly nine years prior to the flights' start in May 2021.
In actuality, United's most recent operation counts as a route resume because it was the last airline to fly in the market.
When the two carriers joined in 2010, United received two historic Continental routes: one from SNA to HNL and one from SNA to Kahului Airport (OGG) on Maui.
United discontinued the Honolulu flight in January 2012 and the Maui flight six months later.
Just over ten years later, the short-term pandemic experiment will cause SNA to once again lose service to Hawaii.
However, it's not entirely bad news for fliers in Orange County.
According to a carrier spokesperson who talked, United will run an additional route between SNA and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in place of the Hawaii service.
In Orange County, obtaining takeoff and landing privileges is notoriously difficult.
Locals and tourists who want to bypass the considerably bigger and busier LAX frequently travel to SNA.
Additionally, the airport's catchment area, one of the wealthiest in the country, is attractive to airlines.
(During the pandemic, American Airlines gained notoriety for introducing a new transcontinental service to New York, flown by its poshest three-cabin plane.)
Slots are used by the Orange County government to control the quantity of aviation traffic in the region.
Even though SNA doesn't have a nationally run slot program in the classic sense (to manage capacity), local officials nonetheless limit commercial passenger traffic for things like noise reduction.
Instead of abandoning the slot, United will increase service on a crucial transcontinental route, one that should perform better than the airline's operation to Hawaii during the pandemic.
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