United Airlines will depart Oakland International Airport in June, ending service to the Bay Area's second-largest airport after 75 years.
Christen David, a United spokeswoman, said the airline's final flights will depart and arrive in Oakland on June 3. The airline flies just one route - 11 flights a week to and from Denver - and not enough passengers are flying United.
"The financial performance of the flights has made the losses too great to allow us to continue the service," she said.
While David would not discuss specifics, federal aviation statistics show that United's flights out of Oakland were 86 percent full, said airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes.
"United's been our partner for such a long time," she said. "While they're a small percentage of our service, they are a global brand, and we're disappointed to lose them as a partner."
Passengers who have already booked flights on United will be contacted by the airline and rebooked out of San Francisco or San Jose, which continue to offer direct Denver flights, or given refunds, David said. Passengers will still be able to reach Denver from Oakland, Barnes said, since Southwest Airlines offers 28 weekly flights.
While Oakland is losing United service, Barnes said, it is gaining service on other airlines. Alaska Airlines will add daily service to a fourth Hawaiian destination - Honolulu - on Tuesday, and Allegiant Air, which serves three cities from Oakland, will add seven domestic destinations at the end of the month. In June, ArkeFly, a Dutch airline, will begin twice-weekly flights between Oakland and Amsterdam.
Copyright 2012 San Francisco ChronicleAll Rights Reserved
