United Express

United Express is a flight connection service brand name for the spoke-hub of U.S. mainline carrier United Airlines, under which eleven individually owned regional airlines operate short and medium haul feeder flights. Mainline carriers often use regional airlines to operate services in order to increase frequency, serve routes that would not sustain larger aircraft, or for other competitive reasons. They primarily connect smaller cities with United's domestic hub airports and “focus cities,” although they offer some point-to-point service such as Sacramento to Eureka.

On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged to form United Continental Holdings, the holding company for the newly merged United Airlines. As Continental and United merged, Continental Connection and Continental Express has gradually adopted the United Express brand name, bringing the number of operators to twelve and the number of aircraft to over 550. The first aircraft painted into the new United Express livery was an Embraer ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet.

As of November 30, 2011, after United had received its Single Operating Certificate following its merger with Continental Airlines, nearly 550 aircraft fly under the United Express brand.

On July 1, 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced that Colgan Air would be merged into Mesaba Airlines. In September 2010, SkyWest, Inc., announced the merger of Atlantic Southeast Airlines and ExpressJet which will make ExpressJet the largest United Express carrier post merger.

History of United Express

United Express Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by GoJet at O'Hare International Airport

United Express ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet at Billings Logan International Airport

Major airlines in the United States had long maintained relationships with regional carriers which fed passengers from small markets to larger towns. The Airline Deregulation Act spurred industry consolidation both vertically and horizontally, and as the hub system became more pronounced, airlines formalized these relationships through code sharing, shared branding, and listing regional partners in computer reservations systems. On May 1, 1985, United formally partnered with Air Wisconsin, Aspen Airways, and WestAir as United Express, feeding its hubs at Chicago-O'Hare, Denver-Stapleton, and San Francisco International Airports. Air Wisconsin and Aspen would merge in 1991.

In 1988, Presidential Airways became a United Express carrier for United’s new hub at Washington Dulles International Airport, but soon floundered. In response, WestAir formed an eastern division to serve Dulles.^[1] WestAir itself experienced turmoil; in 1991 it spun off the new division into an independent company, Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), which years later would go on to become Independence Air.

In 1992, Great Lakes Airlines became a United Express partner, followed by Trans States Airlines the following year. In 1997, as United officially designated Los Angeles International Airport one of its hubs, SkyWest Airlines became a United Express partner as well. Great Lakes left the United Express system in 2001, although it continues to codeshare some routes with United.

In 1993, Trans States Airlines started United Feeder Service, to operate British Aerospace BAe ATP aircraft for United Airlines. The aircraft, originally owned by Air Wisconsin, were transferred and subsequently owned by United. UFS operated routes to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) from close markets in the U.S. Upper Midwest. UFS was eliminated from the United Express carrier network in 1999, and disappeared.

When United declared for Chapter 11 reorganization in 2002, it pressured its regional partners for reduced fees. In 2004, ACA canceled its contract and reinvented itself as low-cost carrier Independence Air. The next year, Air Wisconsin unsuccessfully bid to retain its flying contract, thought it did retain some ground-handling United Express operations. To compensate, United initiated new service agreements with Colgan Air, Trans States subsidiary GoJet Airlines, and Republic Airways Holdings subsidiaries Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America.

In 2005, United announced that service levels on major United Express routes would be upgraded to a new product called explus. Routes with explus service offer first class seats and meal service on larger, 70-seat Embraer 170 and 66-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft.^[2] Expanding the traditional regional partner role, United started to use the airplanes configured with explus amenities instead of, or alongside with, mainline jets on routes linking large cities, such as Chicago to Houston.

United announced a new Express focus city at San Antonio International Airport in 2006, but the experiment was short-lived.

United decided to cancel Dash 8 and CRJ200 service with Mesa Airlines in November 2009.^[3] On November 16, 2009 it was announced that ExpressJet would begin operating Embraer ERJ 145 beginning in the spring of 2010.^[4] Dash 8 and Mesa Airlines CRJ200 service stopped.

All Continental Express and Continental Connection service officially merged into United Express in late 2011.

On April 1, 2012, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. filed for bankruptcy and announced it would draw down its Colgan Air operation. In May, United reached a deal with Republic Airways Holdings for its subsidiary Republic Airlines to fly the Q400 in Colgan’s place. The eight year capacity purchase agreement includes all 28 aircraft previously operated by Colgan as well as four currently flown by Republic for Frontier Airlines.

In 2011, the airline hired the youngest commercial pilot in the world, Jonathan Strickland, then 19 years old, to fly the CRJ700 aircraft. He is currently a first officer, the youngest first officer in the world at age 20.

Operators

^[5]^[5]

**United Express Fleet**
Airline	IATA Service	ICAO Code	Call Sign	Aircraft	Passengers			Parent
Airline	IATA Service	ICAO Code	Call Sign	Aircraft	F	Y	Total	Parent
Cape Air	9K	KAP	Cair	ATR 42	0	46	46	Hyannis Air Service, Inc.
Chautauqua Airlines	RP	CHQ	Chautauqua	Embraer ERJ-145	0	50	50	Republic Airways Holdings
CommutAir	C5	UCA	CommutAir	Bombardier Q200 Bombardier Q300	0 0	37 50	37 50	Champlain Enterprises, Inc.
ExpressJet	EV	ASQ	Acey	Embraer ERJ-135 Embraer ERJ-145 Bombardier CRJ-200	0 0 0	37 50 50	37 50 50	SkyWest, Inc.
GoJet Airlines	G7	GJS	Lindbergh	Bombardier CRJ-700	6	60	66	Trans States Holdings
Mesa Airlines	YV	ASH	Air Shuttle	Bombardier CRJ-700	6	60	66	Mesa Air Group
Republic Airlines	YX	RPA	Brickyard	Bombardier Q400	7	64	71	Republic Airways Holdings
Shuttle America	S5	TCF	Mercury	Embraer 170	6	64	70	Republic Airways Holdings
Silver Airways	3M	SIL	Silver Wings	Beechcraft 1900 Saab 340	0 0	19 34	19 34	VPAA Co.
SkyWest Airlines	OO	SKW	SkyWest	Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia Bombardier CRJ-200 Bombardier CRJ-700	0 0 6	30 50 70	30 50 76	SkyWest, Inc.
Trans States Airlines	AX	LOF	Waterski	Embraer ERJ-145	0	50	50	Trans States Holdings

Destinations

Further information: United Express destinations

References

↑ "Ridgelines: iHistory – The Story of an Airline (1989–2004)".
↑ "United Express features".
↑ "Mesa Air Group, Inc. Announces Update on CRJ-200s Operating at United Airlines". Nov 6, 2009.
↑ "United Airlines Announces New Partnership With ExpressJet". November 16, 2009.
↑ 5.0 5.1 United Airlines - Seat maps and aircraft information – United Airlines. United.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.

External links

United's official United Express page

v t e United Continental Holdings

Current airlines	United Airlines

Current Marketing Brands	United p.s. United Express

Former airlines	Capital Airlines Continental Airlines Continental Micronesia New York Air People Express Airlines Texas International Airlines

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Legal issues	Blakey v. Continental Airlines Untied.com

List of airline holding companies

United Express, Continental Express, and Continental Connection carriers

Current

United Express	Cape Air Chautauqua Airlines CommutAir ExpressJet Airlines GoJet Airlines Mesa Airlines Shuttle America Silver Airways SkyWest Airlines Trans States Airlines

Former

United Express	Air Wisconsin Aspen Airways Atlantic Coast Airlines Atlantic Southeast Airlines Colgan Air Great Lakes Airlines North Pacific Airlines Presidential Airways WestAir

Continental Express	Britt Airways Trans-Colorado Airlines

Continental Connection	Colgan Air Presidential Airways RegionsAir

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