On April 1st, American Eagle will discontinue service from Boston to Newark Airport, which it operates four times daily. On June 1st, the carrier will end twice-daily service from Chicago O’Hare to Washington-Dulles.
With United operating nine flights a day between O’Hare and Dulles, and Continental operating twelve flights from Boston to Newark…it seems that both of these carriers have beaten the minimal competition from American Eagle. With American announcing major expansion and focus at both JFK and LaGuardia, it makes sense they consider dropping the Newark flight, whcih operates between two cities that American does not focus on, if it failed to make a dent against dominant Newark carrier American. The Dulles flight makes less sense. For United, it is a hub-to-hub flight. The city pairs in question certainly have enough room for competition…if only for onward passengers on American’s international flights out of Chicago. We suppose that the planes will be more profitable for new routes out of their new New York focus.
