Commercial airlines are constantly changing which airports they serve. Some routes, such as those that service areas with winter sports, may be seasonal. Or an airline with a route that saw lots of passengers one year might not have as many PAX another year, and they might decide to drop the route.
Small states?
That being said, there are some airports that are tiny, and have such a small population surrounding it, that few commercial airlines service it. And if you have a small state that doesn’t have a whole lot of airlines to begin with, or that has large, well-serviced airports just outside its state borders, there’s a good chance that some commercial airlines might pass you right by and not have a presence in your state at all.
All 50 states? Nope.
That being said, in recent years, no commercial airline has serviced all 50 states.
- United Airlines: 49 states
- Delta Air Lines: Approx. 48 states
- Allegiant Air: Approx. 43 states
- Southwest Airlines: Approx. 42 states
- Alaska Airlines: Approx. 35 states
- Frontier: Approx. 31 states
- jetBlue: Approx. 30 states
- Spirit: Approx. 30 states
- Hawaiian Airlines: Approx. 10 states
Now there is!
Simple Flying recently reported that American Airlines is now serving all 50 states.
But there’s a catch!
There’s always a catch ;-).
American was only serving 49 states, just like United. However, the airline has been partnering with the Landline company to provide bus service for the past couple of years, to provide motorcoach transportation to regional airports that are relatively near PHL. And as of October 7th, thanks to Landline, American also serves the one state its planes weren’t landing in: Delaware. From American Airlines:
Landline services the following airports from Philadelphia Airport (PHL)
- Allentown / Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (ABE)
- Atlantic City, New Jersey (ACY)
- Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, Pennsylvania (AVP)
- Wilmington, Delaware (ILG) – starting on October 7
And with that, they service all 50 states. That’s something no other airline can say at this time.
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8 comments
United has flown to all 50 states in the 1980’s, including Delaware.
But they don’t now, which was the point. The only one that serves all 50 is American.
Who cares?
Apparently you, travel friend. I mean, you did take the time to click on the link, right? 😉
…and thru did so using all mainline jets – before code share and flying partners. Back in that day, the reservations agents had to include the greeting, “Thank you for calling UA, the first airline to fly to all 50 US States”
United also served Wilmington, DE via their Amtrak codeshare until a couple years ago which is pretty much the same as running a bus service. If you book a trip from Atlantic City, NJ to Wilmington, DE via bus none would say “I’ve traveled on American Airlines”. This 50 states argument is absurd.
That being said, American Airlines is indeed serving all 50 states. Which, for the past few years, no other airline was doing. So you may be a little lonely in thinking it’s absurd. 😉
This is different from the Amtrak codeshare – AA passengers go through security at ILG before boarding the bus. When they arrive at PHL, they enter the terminal airside bypassing security.