United Airlines is expanding its winter schedule, adding flights to 15 cities including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Las Vegas, in a pre-emptive move as Spirit undergoes its second Chapter 11 restructuring in less than a year.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we're adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” said United SVP of global network planning and alliances.
United is also adding extra flights between Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles. The company said it will fly larger aircraft between Chicago and New York LaGuardia to “help customers outside of United's hubs connect to these added flights”.