In one of its major East Coast hubs, United Airlines is committed to upholding its position.
As initially noticed in Cirium timetables and then verified by a carrier representative, the carrier submitted plans over the weekend to launch a new seasonal route from its hub at Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington to Calgary International Airport (YYC).
The new 1,951-mile service will start on June 2 and run every day until September 28 on a 126-seat Airbus A319 with 12 first-class recliners, 36 extra-legroom economy plus seats, and 78 normal economy seats.
It's probable that United's network planning division had been thinking about this new Dulles route.
But it's probably not a coincidence that the group submitted the proposals only four days after Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet revealed its own desire to fly from Dulles to Calgary.
WestJet announced intentions to begin the first-ever service from the Washington, D.C., region to Calgary, Alberta as part of a larger transborder network revamp.
It's no surprise that WestJet's new service will likewise debut on June 2; however, it will only be offered three times a week until October 2023.
WestJet will fly to Calgary, making it the airport's 40th airline, and become Dulles' 60th foreign destination.
WestJet's new service may be welcomed by the airport and local officials, but United is moving in to protect its hub from this new rival.
Low prices and a reasonable amount of competition for passengers traveling to or from Calgary should result from the market expanding from zero to up to 300 daily seats.
For routes that go beyond Dulles, United customers will have a tonne of one-stop connecting choices in addition to the daily flights.
After Calgary, WestJet offers a wide variety of intra-Canadian routes in addition to a few long-haul destinations including Tokyo, London, and Paris (though it wouldn't necessarily make sense for someone to travel backward from Dulles to Calgary to Europe).
United has previously fought to protect its home field from an outsider.
In fact, just days after Alaska Airlines announced plans to start operating in the market once daily, United deployed its largest plane on a new fourth-daily service from Dulles to San Diego International Airport (SAN) earlier this month.
Since Southwest left the market in March 2016, according to Cirium schedules, United has had a monopoly on the 2,253-mile IAD to SAN route.
For more than six years, United enjoyed substantial price power nonstop because of the lack of any competition.
It appears United won't sit on the sidelines in the face of new competitive services from Alaska and WestJet.
As an alternative, the airline is pressing hard against both carriers.
It'll be interesting to see how it develops, even if it's unclear whether the market can accommodate all of this additional service.
WestJet also unveiled new flights from Calgary to two Delta hubs, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in addition to Dulles (MSP).
Don't anticipate Delta to strike back in the Upper Midwest when United is fighting at Dulles.
That's because WestJet and the airline based in Atlanta have had a long-standing relationship that currently includes reciprocal mileage earning and elite privileges.
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