While cities that do not bring in a lot of passenger traffic are usually served by low-cost and other smaller airlines, occasionally mainstream airlines see demand for underserved destinations in certain states.
This week, United Airlines (UAL) announced that it will be launching two new flights to Morgantown Municipal Airport (MGW) in West Virginia. While West Virginia International Yeager Airport (CRW) north of Charleston is the main airport serving the state, Morgantown in the northern part of the state is a 90-minute drive from Pittsburgh and is home to West Virginia University.
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As first reported by the Points Guy, the new flights to MGW will run from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) on a CRJ-200 regional jet with 50 seats operated by Skywest (SKYW) . The first flight will start on Dec. 13 and alternate between Chicago and Washington for daily service to Morgantown.
These are the new domestic flights soon being launched by United
United has also announced new flights between O'Hare and Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) in Colorado and Washington and South Bend International Airport (SBN) in Indiana. The flight to Crested Butte will launch on Feb. 15, 2025 and run once a week on an Embraer E175 (ERJ) jet while the Dulles to South Bend flight will start running as early as Dec. 3.
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“We believe that the flexibility, convenience, and reliability offered through this new incredible partnership with United Express will greatly enhance travel plans for those visiting Morgantown Municipal Airport,” Morgantown City Manager Kim Haws said in a statement.
United ran some periodic flights to Morgantown in 2014 but did not previously have regular service to the college town. The new service is also meant to connect those who live in the area to flights to farther-away cities through connections in either Chicago or Washington.
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‘We’re able to go to a hub we’ve never been able to go to before’
As the majority of the airline’s recent route expansions has been international (including numerous flights to smaller Italian cities launched for the summer travel period), the new flights were particularly warmly received by communities that will benefit from them.
“We’re able to go to a hub that we’ve never been able to go to before like Chicago,” Morgantown Municipal Airport Director Jonathan Vrabel said in a statement. “It also provides us the ability to have different types of customers that we haven’t had in a long time.”
Currently, other airlines that serve Morgantown include American Airlines (AAL) and Alaska Airlines (ALK) run through a partnership with Southern Airways.
Some other new routes that United started running earlier this year include flights from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Morocco’s Marrakech as well as a second-city flight stopping in Tokyo before heading off to Cebu in the Philippines. It is also preparing to, on Oct. 27, start running a new flight between George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and José María Córdova International Airport (MBE) in Colombia’s Medellín.
More recently, the carrier also announced a new route between Newark and the Caribbean nation of Dominica that it will start running on February 15, 2025.
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