United Airlines is strengthening its schedule on a series of routes that overlap with Spirit Airlines, increasing capacity as the ULCC pares back service and restructures under Chapter 11.
Starting Jan. 6, United will add flights in 15 cities, including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Las Vegas–three of Spirit’s biggest markets. The expansion includes one additional daily roundtrip flight between Houston and six cities–Orlando, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore and Miami–as well as added frequencies from Chicago O’Hare to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans and Las Vegas.
From Newark, United is boosting Orlando and Fort Lauderdale service, while Los Angeles-Las Vegas will also see added flights. The Star Alliance member will also launch two new routes from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee–markets that Spirit confirmed it will exit in early October.
In addition, United plans three new weekly flights from Houston to Guatemala City and San Salvador, plus one new weekly flight from Houston to San Pedro Sula. The airline says it is also adding extra flights between Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles and will fly larger aircraft between Chicago and New York LaGuardia.
“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,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, says. The moves highlight United’s opportunistic strategy as Spirit shrinks its network under bankruptcy protection. Spirit Aviation Holdings filed for Chapter 11 on Aug. 29, just five months after emerging from its previous restructuring.
The South Florida-based ULCC says it will keep flying during the process, but plans to scale back capacity, drop weaker markets and defer aircraft deliveries as part of efforts to cut debt and operating costs. As reported by Aviation Week, Spirit confirmed it plans to exit 11 markets in October, including Albuquerque, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Columbia, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, Portland, Salt Lake City and Boise, while shelving a planned Fort Lauderdale–Macon launch.
OAG Schedules Analyzer data shows United and Spirit already overlap on all 13 U.S. domestic routes where United is adding an extra daily frequency. On those routes, Spirit currently operates 216 weekly flights compared with United’s 409. By adding new flights, United will widen that frequency gap further, especially in Florida and Las Vegas—two of Spirit’s strongest leisure markets. United says the schedule build-up will raise its winter offering to 45 daily flights to Orlando, 30 to Fort Lauderdale and 43 to Las Vegas.
The expansion comes as rival ULCC Frontier Airlines is also growing in Spirit’s core markets with 20 new routes, including eight from Houston, six from Detroit and six from Fort Lauderdale. Additionally, Denver-based Frontier is opening several new Caribbean services.
Separately, United has outlined plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv from Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles for the first time since 2023. Chicago service will begin Nov. 1 and operate four times per week, while Washington flights start Nov. 2 at three times per week. United already flies twice daily between Tel Aviv and Newark and says all operations to Israel follow detailed safety and security assessments.
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