Starting in May, you’ll once again be able to fly from Alexandria to Houston and back. United is restarting service between Alexandria International Airport and Bush Intercontinental Airport. Airport Executive Director Ralph Hennessy says service had been discontinued in 2022, and not because the route wasn’t profitable.
“There was a large pilot shortage coming out of COVID, a lot of pilots have been furloughed, and they had exited the market, along with 30-plus other markets,” Hennessy explained.
Hennessy says AEX had worked to restore service to Houston since the day service was discontinued. The airport got its big breakthrough when SkyWest Airlines came into the picture.
“SkyWest Airlines is an affiliate of theirs, who has agreed to provide the service under the United Airlines flag,” Hennessy noted.
Hennessy says the airport made SkyWest a guarantee to secure the resumption of the service to Houston.
“We have a revenue guarantee that will help mitigate any losses they may encounter for the first two years. It’s a $1.2 million revenue guarantee,” Hennessy said.
The first million comes from a DOT grant, and the remaining $200,000 is pledged by the Alexandria-based Louisiana Central Community Foundation. When service resumes in May, there will be two daily non-stop flights, with each flight about 45 minutes.
