United Airlines ending services at Easterwood Airport

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - United Airlines is pulling out of Easterwood Airport after Jan. 3, 2022, according to a press release from the Texas A&M University System, which owns the airport.

Chancellor John Sharp said that the surprising decision would be devastating to the university system. John Clanton, president of Easterwood Airport management learned of United’s decision on Wednesday afternoon during a phone call with Kevin Thompson, the senior manager of United’s Domestic Network Planning.

“We’re doing everything we can to get them to change their mind,” Sharp said.

Currently, United has two daily flights to Houston and they’ve been working with Easterwood Airport since the 1980s. Without United’s flights, the airport will only be left with three American Airlines flights each day to Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the press release. United added flights to its College Station-Houston schedule as recently as 2018, citing the route as one where it believed it could grow traffic and revenue from college football fans.

Data from the Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M shows travel at Easterwood Airport has returned to near pre-pandemic levels. While traffic fell slightly during the Delta variant spike, it has nearly tripled since the beginning of 2021.

Clanton said Easterwood was in discussion with United about a regular flight to Denver just four weeks ago.