The largest U.S. airline,
United Continental Holdings Inc.
(
UAL
), plans to expand its services to 10 new cities to bolster its
both domestic and international footprint. All the new flights are
awaiting approval from government.
United expects to add daily round-trip services to Taiwan and Paris
from San Francisco on April 9, 2013 and April 11, 2013,
respectively. This will enhance the company's presence at the San
Francisco hub, where it operates more than 300 flights.
Additionally, the company is also bolstering its hub at Chicago
O'Hare International Airport by introducing more flights to U.S.,
Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The new flights include:
- Daily service from Chicago to Monterrey, Mexico effective
December 19, 2012
- Daily service from Chicago to Thunder Bay, Canada effective
February 14, 2013
- Daily service from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi effective
November 4, 2012
- Weekly peak-season service from Chicago to Nassau, Bahamas
effective February 9, 2013
- Daily peak winter service from Chicago to Anchorage, Alaska
from December 19, 2012 to January 2, 2013
Currently, United offers nearly 600 nonstop flights each day out
of O'Hare to more than 150 destinations worldwide. Further, the
company plans to introduce the following domestic and international
routes from other domestic hubs:
- Three-times-daily service from Denver to Williston, North
Dakota effective November 4, 2012
- Daily service from Los Angeles to British Columbia, Canada
effective December 19, 2012
- Daily service from Washington/Dulles to El Salvador effective
December 19, 2012
In the last 18 months, United Continental has expanded its
routes from U.S. hubs to international destinations such as
Guadalajara, Mexico; Montreal, Canada; Port-au-Prince, Haiti;
Shanghai, China, and Stuttgart, Germany. In addition, the company
also added new intra-Asia routes between the Tokyo hub and Hong
Kong and between the Guam hub and Okinawa, Japan.
Further, United Continental recently started new flights between
Houston and Lagos, Nigeria; New York/Newark and Buenos Aires and
Istanbul; Washington/Dulles and Manchester, U.K. and Dublin,
Ireland; and will soon start a service between Denver and Tokyo.
Besides the expansion of services, United Continental is making
continued progress in increasing its on-board products in both
domestic and international fleets, thereby enhancing its value and
profitability. Nevertheless, the company competes strongly with
Delta Air Lines Inc.
(
DAL
) and
Southwest Airlines Co
. (
LUV
) that have large flight expansions on the card.
We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on United.
For the short term, the stock retains a Zacks #1 (Strong Buy)
Rank.
DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis
Report
SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report
UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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