United Airlines adds new routes as Spirit struggles

United Airlines will add two new routes and beef up schedules on more than 15 others in January.

All come in markets served by Spirit Airlines, and that’s no coincidence.

United’s move comes just a week after Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in nine months. Spirit’s abrupt return to bankruptcy, coupled with a previous warning that it could run out of cash, has ratcheted up concerns about the budget carrier’s long-term prospects.

It’s also led customers to wonder if booking on Spirit is risky, especially for flights months away amid the ultra-low-cost carrier’s financial uncertainty.

Rival airlines are beginning to take stock of the situation, too.

First up was Frontier, which rolled out a 20-route expansion that largely targeted Spirit and ratcheted up competition between the nation’s two largest budget carriers. It also left many industry observers wondering if Frontier, which failed in a previous merger bid for Spirit, was trying to push its rival over the brink with its new flights.

Now, United has become the second carrier to add flights in markets where it competes with Spirit, saying its extra flights could be welcome additions in a worst-case scenario.

“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, said in a statement announcing the new routes.

Already, United will end up backfilling Spirit in at least two markets.

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United’s two new routes announced on Thursday include nonstop service between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Read more: Spirit Airlines axes 11 cities from route map as bankruptcy cuts begin

Spirit currently flies both of those routes, but it confirmed on Wednesday that it would end all service from Columbia and Chattanooga as part of broader cuts related to its bankruptcy restructuring.

United already had planned to add Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) service to those two cities prior to news of Spirit’s exit, a spokesperson for United said to TPG.

United’s new routes and expanded schedules will begin Jan. 6 and go on sale later Thursday.

Highlights of the additions are below.

United will add these two routes from EWR:

• Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA)
• Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE)

Additionally, United will add one daily flight to its existing schedules from several of its hubs. They include:

From Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH):

• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS)
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
• Miami International Airport (MIA)
• Orlando International Airport (MCO)

From Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
• LAS
• MSY
• MCO

From Newark:

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Additionally, United will add one extra flight a week between Houston and three Central American cities served by Spirit: Guatemala City, San Pedro Sula in Honduras, and San Salvador in El Salvador.

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