Each week, airlines submit schedule changes—if there are any—to Cirium Diio and OAG. These may include aircraft alternations, frequency increases or decreases, changes to operating periods or days of the week, and more. More interestingly, they may also include new or eliminated routes, many of which may not have already been made public. They involve airlines from the US
and every other country.
In the latest update, 
American Airlines
disclosed that it will begin flying from Chicago O’Hare—the world’s leading airport for regional jets—to Idaho Falls and from Dallas/Fort Worth to Puerto Escondido, becoming its 30th Mexican destination. Meanwhile, United Airlines will again operate Essential Air Service routes from Denver to Watertown and Pierre while introducing Chicago O’Hare to West Lafayette (Purdue University) flights.
American Airlines Will Begin These 2 Routes
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
According to the US Department of Transportation, Idaho Falls’ last Chicago O’Hare flights were in 1990, when American deployed the once-omnipresent MD80 series. As summarized below, American Eagle will operate the route from August 6 aboard SkyWest’s CRJ700s. At 1,069 nautical miles (1,980 km) each way, it will become Eagle’s seventh-longest RJ-operated service from the Illinois hub.
DOT data for 2024 shows the local market had 7,700 local passengers last year (just 11 passengers daily each way). Around six in ten people bought tickets in Idaho. For obvious reasons, over a third of passengers traveled between July and September. American will focus massively on traffic via O’Hare, including Orlando (8,100 passengers last year), Atlanta (7,900), Minneapolis (5,900), Washington Dulles (5,600), Kansas City (4,800), Boston (4,100), Baltimore (3,900), etc.
|
Start date |
Route |
Flights |
Aircraft |
Comments (information as of April 14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
August 6 |
Chicago O’Hare to Idaho Falls |
Daily |
CRJ700 |
Operated by SkyWest. Scheduled until October 5. Flights will leave O’Hare at 09:45 and get to Idaho at 12:00 local time. Returning, they will depart at 12:30 and get back at 16:55 |
|
December 3 |
Dallas/Fort Worth to Puerto Escondido |
Twice-weekly |
E175 |
On Envoy Air equipment. Services will leave Texas at 10:10 and arrive at 13:15 local time. Returning, they will depart at 14:05 and arrive at 17:20. On April 5, United Express became the first US carrier to fly to Puerto Escondido |
United Airlines Will Start These 3 Routes
They are summarized below. Two routes are from Colorado to South Dakota, a state rarely mentioned for aviation. In early April, SkyWest won the tender to resume Essential Air Service flights from Denver to Pierre and Watertown. It last operated them in 2021, when Key Lime Air took over through its Denver Air Connection brand.
The EAS contract is (or was) due to expire on May 31. However, Denver Air Connection will now continue to operate until July 31, with SkyWest taking over the following day. Returning to United Express means passengers should benefit from easier/quicker connectivity over Denver.
|
Start date |
Route |
Flights |
Aircraft |
Comments (information as of April 14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
August 1 |
Denver to Pierre |
12 weekly |
CRJ200 |
Operated by SkyWest. Daily on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, double daily on the other days. Flights will leave Colorado at 13:53/20:31 and depart from South Dakota at 06:22 and 17:20. In 2024, Denver Air Connection carried 28,700 passengers (50% load factor). |
|
August 1 |
Denver to Watertown |
Daily |
CRJ200 |
Operated by SkyWest. Flights will leave at 14:30 and get back at 19:40/19:42. In 2024, Denver Air Connection transported 16,700 passengers (54% load factor). |
|
August 5 |
Chicago O’Hare to West Lafayette (Purdue University) |
12 weekly |
CRJ200 |
Operated by SkyWest. Daily on Tuesdays and Saturdays, double daily on the other days. Flights will leave O’Hare at 12:14/21:15 and depart from Indiana at 06:30/14:47. It will compete directly with Southern Airways Express (more on that below) |
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United Express & Southern Airways Will Compete From O’Hare
Between 2005 and 2023, Lafayette had no commercial airline service. That changed in 2024 when its Amelia Earhart Terminal opened. Southern Airways Express continues to serve the route, which covers 103 nautical miles (191 km) each way. The US DOT shows it carried 6,000 passengers last year but only filled 44% of the available seats.
SkyWest’s arrival in August will mark the first time two airlines have served the market. It’ll have a 12-weekly service on single-class 50-seat CRJ200s, with a maximum block time (back to O’Hare) of 1h 08. In contrast, Southern will operate at least twice as often on nine-seat Cessna Caravans, taking up to 1h 20m. As it will obviously be a hard fight for Southern, it is unclear if both carriers will continue to operate.
