United Airlines will resume flights between Rhinelander and Chicago this summer.
In 2021, United made roundtrip flights between Chicago O’Hare Airport and Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport for three months during the peak summer travel season.
“It was a resounding success. They did extremely well. Then the pilot shortage came along as a result of COVID,” said Matthew Leitner, the Rhinelander Oneida County Airport Director.
United stops its flights to Rhinelander, but it kept the infrastructure in place with the intention to return.
Leitner says there’s still a pilot shortage, but its eased enough to resume that flight and expand it.
Instead of three months, United will be offering it from May through September.
“It’s really exciting. It’s a very popular service. As I often say, it’s really difficult, extraordinarily difficult, for airports to secure new airline service, especially in this environment, because we’re still kind of reeling from the pilot shortage. It hasn’t fully recovered yet,” said Leitner. “The phrase I often use is, if we don’t use it, we’re going to lose it. They need that ridership.”
There will be a round trip flight per day between Chicago and Rhinelander for up to 50 passengers starting in May.
Mid-June United will add a second-round trip flight through Labor Day and then back to one round-trip per day.
Leitner says this flight to Chicago and Delta’s flights to Minneapolis opens the door to just about any destination for travelers.
“Rhinelander is a burgeoning community. We’re seeing a lot of growth in small business, you know, consultants, other small businesses, etc. Many of them work online, but when the time comes to travel, if we’re coupled with both Minneapolis, which is a great hub, a very capable hub with a lot of offerings, and Chicago, it really eliminates the necessity to go to another airport,” said Leitner.
The United flights will run May 22 through September 28.
Fares will be available on united.com in the coming days.