United Airlines passengers wait in the boarding area for their flights at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado.
Robert Alexander | Getty Images
United Airlines’ latest ski destinations are available by bus.
The Chicago-based airline on March 11 will begin offering bus services three times a day from its Denver International Airport to Breckenridge, Colorado and four times a day to Fort Collins on April 1. – will be transferred directly to the bus by Landline, departing from the airport gate. Landline says seating capacity will be limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Travelers can book tickets directly to those destinations after their flights and transport them to the Denver bus service.
Travelers “are not just going to Denver,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s vice president of network and schedule planning. “They actually want to ski and go to all these tourist destinations.”
Denver was a relative bright spot for transportation companies during the pandemic, as there are many outdoor activities where travelers can physically relinquish, although Gupta said the airline has been talking about the bus service for more than a year. United’s Denver service recovered to about 80% of 2019 traffic levels, most of the airlines’ hubs.
Gupta said the idea is to determine the demand for travelers who reach areas within a radius of about 100 miles of Denver and remove the stress of the airport.
“We thought it would be a good test bed market,” he told CNBC. “We think it’s a very low risk experiment.”
If successful, United could extend the service to other outdoor destinations outside of Denver or connections to its San Francisco and Newark hubs.