United Airlines has added five more cities to its growing network. Its regional unit will commence service to Bloomington, Champaign, Kalamazoo, La Crosse, and Lansing. All except one of these places has been part of its network before, although not necessarily recently.

Last week, it was revealed that United will fly to 386 airports globally this year, more than any other operator. But with the latest additions, that figure has now jumped to 391. And it’s likely that the Star Alliance member will add more places in the coming months.

United’s Five Additional Cities

Given the geographic location of the five cities, it’s hardly surprising that United will serve them from its Chicago O’Hare hub. According to Cirium Diio data, O’Hare is comfortably the carrier’s busiest hub for flights in the first half of 2026, but that’s partly driven by significant regional jet activity.

The additions were first identified by Ishrion Aviation on X. When writing, bookings are due to open on January 29. Each route is expected to begin in April or May and operate four times daily. While it is unclear which airline that operates on a capacity purchase agreement for United Express will be used, a mix of CRJ200, CRJ550, or E175 will probably be scheduled.

Notice that Bloomington, just 101 nautical miles (187 km) from O’Hare, was last part of United’s network 18 years ago, in 2008. And that La Crosse, in Wisconsin, has not previously been served by United at all, at least not since 1990. More on that route later in the article.

All Five Routes Will Compete Directly With American

United and American are increasingly fighting it out at O’Hare, and often in a relatively undignified manner. United’s latest additions epitomize this rivalry. American Eagle already serves all five cities from O’Hare, and the oneworld carrier will have head-to-head competition again.

Let’s focus on June, by which time United will be present in those cities. When writing, American plans the following services from O’Hare. It’ll operate three daily to Bloomington (Envoy Air E170); three daily to Champaign (Envoy Air E170); two daily to Kalamazoo (SkyWest CRJ700); three daily to La Crosse (Envoy Air E170); and two daily to Lansing (Envoy Air E170). There’s no prize for guessing why United wanted four daily flights.

United Has Not Served La Crosse Before

According to the US DOT, United has not previously had any scheduled services to the Wisconsin city, which is located 187 nautical miles (346 km) from O’Hare. When flights begin this spring, the carrier will fly to a record eight airports in the state: Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Wausau. The prior high was seven airports.

La Crosse is, of course, a very small market. In the 12 months to October 2025, all domestic markets combined only had 106 passengers daily each way (PDEW). Perhaps surprisingly, O’Hare was the most-trafficked local market, with a PDEW of just 5.4. Absolutely tiny.

Dallas/Fort Worth was second (PDEW of 4.5), followed by Washington Reagan (3.8), Phoenix (3.6), Nashville (2.9), Orlando (2.8), Charlotte (2.7), Philadelphia (2.7), New York LaGuardia (2.6), Los Angeles (2.3), and Las Vegas (2.1). With such unbelievably small figures, how on earth will O’Hare-La Crosse sustain four daily flights by United, in addition to American’s three daily services? The answer: it won’t. It’s a competitive move. Consumers will benefit, but for how long?