http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...ving_all_cross-country_flights_to_newark.html
NEWARK -- United Airlines says it's pulling out of John F. Kennedy International Airport and that its flights from there to Los Angeles and San Francisco will depart from Newark, which for the first time will now offer amenities like flatbed seating and on-demand movies on cross-country flights.
United already offers service from Newark Liberty International Airport to both LAX and SFO, but without the kind of amenities typically only available on international flights.
In Tuesday's announcement of the shift, effective in October, United said it was intended to strengthen its northeast hub at Newark Liberty, where the Chicago-based carrier already accounts for 70 percent of all flights. Officials also said the move comes after seven unprofitable years of operating out of JFK.
United said Newark will have as many as 17 daily round trips between Newark and San Francisco and 15 between EWR and LAX, and all will offer premium amenities. Those amenities include flat-bed seating in business class, more leg room in economy class, updated cabin interiors, wi-fi, and on-demand movies and television for each passenger, shown on individual screens mounted on seat backs.
United officials said its customers in the New York City area like the amenities available on flights from JFK, but prefer the convenience and wide choices available at the Newark hub. Relocating its premium service to Newark, they said, now means fliers do not have to sacrifice one for the other.
United employs 200 operations workers and 70 mechanics at JFK, and airline officials said some layoffs were likely. Some employees might be relocated within the company, while still others could exercise their union bumping rights over less senior employees for jobs in Newark.
The airline stressed the significance of the move to business travelers from lower Manhattan, as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey moves moves ahead with plans to extend its PATH commuter rail line from Newark Penn station to the airport, a $1.5 billion project that would provide a direct link to the Newark airport monorail from PATH's World Trade Center station.
"Manhattan business travelers, particularly those who work on Wall Street and throughout lower and western Manhattan, enjoy easy access to Newark Liberty, the most convenient of the three New York-area airports," the airline said in a statement Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark has asked the Port Authority to preserve documents involving the PATH extension as part of an investigation into United's ties to former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, who led the agency in approving the PATH extension as part of a 10-year capital plan adopted in February 2014.
United officials who briefed reporters on move from JFK to Newark on during a conference call Tuesday declined to comment, other than to reiterate the airline's prior statement that it was cooperating with investigators.
Tuesday's announcement also comes six months after the airline petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate aviation fees charged by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to fly out of Newark. In asserting that the Newark fees were unreasonable and had a disproportionate impact on United because of its dominant status at Newark, United noted that fees at JFK were 75 percent lower.
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow hin on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- United Airlines says it's pulling out of John F. Kennedy International Airport and that its flights from there to Los Angeles and San Francisco will depart from Newark, which for the first time will now offer amenities like flatbed seating and on-demand movies on cross-country flights.
United already offers service from Newark Liberty International Airport to both LAX and SFO, but without the kind of amenities typically only available on international flights.
In Tuesday's announcement of the shift, effective in October, United said it was intended to strengthen its northeast hub at Newark Liberty, where the Chicago-based carrier already accounts for 70 percent of all flights. Officials also said the move comes after seven unprofitable years of operating out of JFK.
United said Newark will have as many as 17 daily round trips between Newark and San Francisco and 15 between EWR and LAX, and all will offer premium amenities. Those amenities include flat-bed seating in business class, more leg room in economy class, updated cabin interiors, wi-fi, and on-demand movies and television for each passenger, shown on individual screens mounted on seat backs.
United officials said its customers in the New York City area like the amenities available on flights from JFK, but prefer the convenience and wide choices available at the Newark hub. Relocating its premium service to Newark, they said, now means fliers do not have to sacrifice one for the other.
United employs 200 operations workers and 70 mechanics at JFK, and airline officials said some layoffs were likely. Some employees might be relocated within the company, while still others could exercise their union bumping rights over less senior employees for jobs in Newark.
The airline stressed the significance of the move to business travelers from lower Manhattan, as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey moves moves ahead with plans to extend its PATH commuter rail line from Newark Penn station to the airport, a $1.5 billion project that would provide a direct link to the Newark airport monorail from PATH's World Trade Center station.
"Manhattan business travelers, particularly those who work on Wall Street and throughout lower and western Manhattan, enjoy easy access to Newark Liberty, the most convenient of the three New York-area airports," the airline said in a statement Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark has asked the Port Authority to preserve documents involving the PATH extension as part of an investigation into United's ties to former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, who led the agency in approving the PATH extension as part of a 10-year capital plan adopted in February 2014.
United officials who briefed reporters on move from JFK to Newark on during a conference call Tuesday declined to comment, other than to reiterate the airline's prior statement that it was cooperating with investigators.
Tuesday's announcement also comes six months after the airline petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate aviation fees charged by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to fly out of Newark. In asserting that the Newark fees were unreasonable and had a disproportionate impact on United because of its dominant status at Newark, United noted that fees at JFK were 75 percent lower.
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow hin on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.