16 Oct United Airlines to Begin New Nonstop Service Between Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

The Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) and United Airlines are proud to announce new nonstop service between the Tri-Cities and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) beginning March 31, 2019.

As hundreds of travelers from the Tri-Cities region travel to the Los Angeles basin every day, United’s new service will provide daily access to the busiest airport on the West Coast and all that Los Angeles has to offer—everything from amusement parks and Hollywood to the bioscience and the aerospace industries. The late-afternoon departure will also allow Tri-Cities travelers to connect directly to 32 destinations on United, including five in Hawaii, five in Asia and Australia, and four cities in Mexico.

“With this new flight, United connects passengers in the Tri-Cities with dozens of destinations in Asia, the Pacific, Hawaii and all across California,” said Janet Lamkin, United’s California President. “And we are excited to connect the Tri-Cities with the world through our Los Angeles gateway and to bring more Southern Californians to Washington’s wine country.”

In turn, the United flight will provide Angelenos with direct access to some of Washington’s finest wineries, scientific history, and the newest National Park in the country.

“This is a huge win for the Tri-Cities community,” said Buck Taft, director of the airport. “The LA basin is our largest unserved market, and we’ve worked for years to gain this service. We’re grateful to our partners for helping us bring this flight to our community, and look forward to providing quick, easy access to Los Angeles.”

Tickets for United Airlines’ daily nonstop flights are available now. Using a 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft, the flight will offer both a first-class cabin and an economy cabin.

This new service is the result of long-term regional collaboration.  Through an alliance that included the Port of Pasco, TRIDEC, Franklin County, Visit Tri-Cities, Benton County, City of Pasco, City of Kennewick, City of Richland, Port of Kennewick, Port of Benton, Battelle, JUB Engineers, Bechtel, Tri-City Chamber of Commerce, Washington River Protection Solutions and Ti-lite, the airport sought and won a federal Small Community Air Service Development grant.  The local and national support enabled the airport to incentivize United Airlines to begin the service.

“New service to LAX is great news for the Tri-Cities,” shared Carl Adrian, President and CEO of TRIDEC. “The local business community has been wanting direct flights to the Los Angeles basin for years so United’s announcement will make a lot of people very happy. TRIDEC has been supporting the Tri-Cities Airport for at least five years in promoting daily flights to Los Angeles so it is a great win for all of us.  I am not sure this effort would have been successful without the Small Communities Air Service grant the airport received and the broad base of community support to provide matching funding.”

Michael Novakovich, President and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities, agreed. “Nonstop flight service from Los Angeles is a game changer for the Tri-Cities tourism industry. The convenience of a direct flight is a great opportunity for us to increase travel to the Tri-Cities region where visitors can experience our world-class wine country, three majestic rivers and internationally renowned science attractions.”

United also serves Denver and San Francisco from Tri-Cities. To book a ticket, visit united.com.

About the Airport
Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) is the largest airport in the Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon region and the third largest air carrier airport in the state of Washington. With connections to eight major hubs, the airport is served by Delta, Alaska, United and Allegiant airlines. More than 740,000 passengers traveled through PSC in 2017. For more information about the airport, visit flytricities.com or follow us on Facebook.

About United
United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,600 flights a day to 357 airports across five continents. In 2017, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 148 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 757 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 551 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”.