It took a little more than three years, but today United Airlines, the nation's #2 carrier in terms of daily miles flown, emerged from bankruptcy protection. It's been quite a ride for the airline, which at one time was Portland's biggest carrier. Through voiding of contracts, and help from creditors, United was able to lower its operating costs by 20%.
The airline also laid-off 30% of its employees, and turned over its pension obligations to the Federal Government... hurting thousands of retirees in the process.
From this point on, United says it will continue to restructure. It will eliminate unprofitable domestic routes, and continue to add longer-range international routes. A number of larger, US "legacy" carriers are doing the same. They know the real money come from flying overseas... from Chicago to Hong Kong... and not from Portland to Denver.
Still... through the three year bankruptcy process... United hasn't done much to change its presence in Portland. I did a comparison of United PDX schedule in December of 2002 and this month, February of 2006. I found United has cut the number of flights it offers in Portland... and it's using smaller planes... but it still has service to the same number of destinations. Here's a complete breakdown of what I found:
United Airlines PDX Service
All Flights:
December 2002: 46 Daily Departures
February 2006: 36 Daily Departures
Net Cut: 10 Flights/Day
Mainline (non-United Express flights):
December 2002: 24 Daily Departures
February 2006: 19 Daily Departures
Net Cut: 5 Flights/Day
United Express (operated by smaller aircraft):
December 2002: 22 Daily Departures
February 2006: 17 Daily Departures
Net Cut: 5 Flights/Day
Changes by Destination
to Chicago O'Hare
December 2002: 7 Daily
February 2006: 5 Daily
Net Cut: 2 Flights/Day
to Denver
December 2002: 5 Daily
February 2006: 5 Daily
No Cut or Gain
to Eugene
December 2002: 5 Daily (United Express)
February 2006: 2 Daily (United Express)
Net Cut: 3 Flights/Day
to Los Angeles
December 2002: 4 Daily
February 2006: 4 Daily (1 Operated by United Express)
Net Cut: 1 Mainline Flight Replaced by United Express
to Medford
December 2002: 5 Daily (United Express)
February 2006: 3 Daily (United Express)
Net Cut: 2 Flights/Day
to Redmond/Bend
December 2002: 5 Daily (United Express)
February 2006: 5 Daily (United Express)
No Cut or Gain
to San Francisco
December 2002: 7 Daily
February 2006: 7 Daily (2 Operated by United Express)
Net Cut: 2 Mainline Flights Replaced by United Express
to Seattle/Tacoma
December 2002: 7 Daily (United Express)
February 2006: 4 Daily (United Express)
Net Cut: 3 Flights/Day
to Washington Dulles
December 2002: 1 Daily
February 2006: 1 Daily
No Cut or Gain
