LAS VEGAS -- United plans to put a special focus on flying
Houston customers to its other hubs once Bush Intercontinental Airport reopens,
president Scott Kirby said.
When operations restart, there could be limits in what the
airport can handle. Plus, United will have big backups of passengers wanting to
depart Houston. So, the airline will initially focus on hub flights.
"If we can get them to our hubs, we can get them out to
the rest of the world," Kirby told media in attendance at the Boyd Group's
International Aviation Forecast Summit here Tuesday.
Houston Bush is tentatively scheduled to reopen on Thursday
at noon. Bush and Hobby airports have been closed since early Sunday as the
remnants of Hurricane Harvey has dumped record rainfall on Texas' largest city.
Airlines canceled 1,500 flights in and out of Houston on
Monday, according to the website FlightAware, and more than 1,400 flights on
Sunday. More than 1,300 flights have been canceled Tuesday.
United, Houston's largest airline, operates approximately
500 flights per day out of Houston, Kirby said.
Helane Becker, a transportation sector investments analyst
for Cowen & Co., estimated Tuesday that the storm would cost United $265
million, according to Seeking Alpha. Kirby said that United hasn't done its own
estimate yet.
"We are 100% focused right now on taking care of our
people," he said.
Houston is United's second-largest hub, behind only Chicago
O'Hare. The carrier also has hubs in Denver, Newark, Los Angeles, Washington
Dulles and San Francisco.
Southwest, which flies out of Hobby and is the second-largest
carrier in Houston, has canceled more than 1,000 flights network-wide since
Sunday.
Chief revenue officer Andrew Watterson said Monday said that
the storm shouldn't have a major impact on Southwest's bottom line because the
carrier runs a broad point-to-point network.
"The business implications, who cares, we'll look at
that later," Watterson said, expressing concern instead for the people of
Houston.