United Airlines to depart Capital Airport in June

United Airlines will end service to and from Springfield's Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in June, as American Airlines plans to shift its Springfield service from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago O'Hare International Airport around that same time.

A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that United would end Springfield service on June 2, along with that of Erie International Airport in Pennsylvania. The airline attributed the decision to an ongoing pilot shortage among its regional airline partners with the decision to reduce the number of destinations to which it flies.

American Airlines announced in January that it would be ending service to Dallas-Fort Worth from Springfield, but adding two additional flights to Chicago O'Hare beginning June 1 - one day before United shuts down service.

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The airline said that they would be reaching out to customers who had booked flights with United after June 2 in order to discuss options to get them on their way.

Currently, United has one inbound and one outbound flight per day connecting Springfield to O'Hare, the airline's main hub. The airline has had a presence at the airport since 1991, when Great Lakes Express, at that time a United affiliate, came to the airport. They officially changed to United Express one year later.

Mark Hanna, executive director of the Springfield Airport Authority and Capital Airport, said that the removal of United from Springfield shows that the pilot shortage is starting to severely impact the airport. However, he pointed out that American Airlines will make up for the end of United's service at the airport with two daily flights beginning in June to O'Hare, allowing for people to continue to fly that route out of the airport.

"American will be providing two times daily flights to Chicago O’Hare, essentially replacing United’s one flight at day," Hanna said.

Local officials and state politicians took time Wednesday to meet with United's CEO, Scott Kirby, to discuss the impact of the pilot shortage on Capital Airport and how it impacted the airline's decision to cut service to Springfield. Attending the meeting were Illinois U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, 13th Congressional District Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Springfield), Mayor Jim Langfelder, Airport Authority Chairman Frank J. Vala and Airport Commissioner Susan Shea.

Vala said that he appreciated the efforts of Illinois' representatives in Washington to set up the call and make sense of how the pilot shortage impacts places like Springfield.

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"We appreciate Senators Durbin and Duckworth and Congresswomen Nikki Budzinski for taking the time out of their busy schedules to orchestrate a call with United Airlines’ CEO, Scott Kirby, to further discuss United’s service in Springfield and the severe impacts the nationwide pilot shortage is having on communities served by their affiliate regional air carriers," Vala said. "All on the (telephone) call fully understand the issue at hand, and we discussed how we can support developing pilots at the local level as well as positive impacts that could be made at the federal level to provide some temporary relief as we await new pilots to fill the ranks."

Vala went on to express appreciation for American Airlines' efforts to fill the void.

"While United’s exit from Springfield is unfortunate and seemingly unavoidable, we are very grateful for American Airlines continued commitment to Springfield as they will be adding twice (2x) daily flights to Chicago in June, thus continuing our region’s access to Chicago," Vala said.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Capital Airport to lose United Airlines service in June