United to Increase Its Service at Dulles

United Airlines announced yesterday that it was adding 22 flights at Dulles International Airport this fall, widening its operations at a travel hub in the fast-growing Northern Virginia suburbs.

The announcement came on the same day that low-cost rival JetBlue Airways began shuttle service from Dulles to New York.

The airlines are aiming not only to tap the robust travel market in Northern Virginia but also to fill a gap created by the demise in January of low-cost carrier Independence Air.

The new flights follow other recent expansions of service at Dulles, which is in the center of some of the fastest-growing suburbs in the country. Southwest Airlines is scheduled to begin service out of Dulles to four cities in October.

Among United's new routes, which are scheduled to start in October: three flights a week to Kuwait and daily service to Narita, Japan. The airline also will add service in October to Tucson and to Fort Myers, Fla. In December, it plans to add a flight to West Palm Beach, Fla. United will also increase flights in November to some cities it already serves.

"We're trying to respond to our customers and leverage our strong customer base and connection opportunities at Dulles," said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. "We are seeing demand from our customers for service to new destinations that we don't serve today."

JetBlue began six daily nonstops yesterday to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, its largest hub. Airline officials said they were eager to tap the Northern Virginia market, giving local customers more travel options if they want to grab connecting flights at JFK.

JetBlue plans to offer daily service from Dulles to West Palm Beach in October.

Robert C. Land, JetBlue's senior vice president for government affairs, said the airline had been consistently increasing routes out of Dulles since late 2001. But he said the carrier stepped up its expansion after Independence Air went out of business.

He said the airline "is definitely looking to grow at Dulles over the years as markets make sense."

Passengers, especially those who live in Northern Virginia, said they were pleased that JetBlue had started the New York flights. Steve Gehring and Tomoko Azuma, who live in Herndon, said they found flying out of Reagan National Airport or taking a train from Union Station in downtown D.C. was a hassle.

"It's much more convenient for us," Azuma said as she left the JetBlue ticket counter yesterday morning.

JetBlue would also like to operate flights between JFK and National but has run into regulatory and congressional hurdles in obtaining arrival and departure slots at National, Land said.

US Airways and Delta Air Lines dominate the shuttle market from National to New York and Boston.

Travel analysts said the Northern Virginia market is ripe for new flights because many carriers shied away from Dulles while Independence was in business.

Dulles air traffic has grown since Independence folded -- climbing from 1.5 million passengers in February to more than 2 million in June, the last month airport statistics were available.

Last year, more than 27 million passengers passed through Dulles, up from 18 million in 2001.

"We're talking about a huge market," said Darryl Jenkins, an analyst who tracks air travel trends. "The markets of Fairfax and Loudoun have incredible growth, and the people who live there have lots of money."