Boston-Washington IAD flights dwindle as United hesitates on hub strategy
BOS to IAD, once a key domestic connection, has seen a significant reduction in service, with only four roundtrips currently available, as flagged by Enilria. This decline highlights United’s reluctance to commit to Dulles as a primary hub, as further evidenced by aging terminals with long-planned replacements and its omission from the United NEXT expansion plan. United’s addition of flights at IAD seem driven by slot waivers at Newark (EWR) rather than a deliberate hub schedule.
Despite BOS-IAD being a critical route that traditionally avoids competition from Amtrak and low-cost carriers, traffic has shifted dramatically to DCA, where Delta, American, and JetBlue operate 27 daily roundtrips, mostly on smaller Embraer jets. Local traffic between Boston and Washington has stagnated, and IAD’s share of the market has dropped from 70% in the 1990s to just 15% today. Some speculate that Delta could step in to revive the route, which is on “life support,” reflecting the broader challenges United faces in defining Dulles’ role in its network.
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