Changes in flight offerings at State College Regional Airport start this week. What to know
After two years without nonstop flights to Washington, D.C., the route is finally making a comeback to State College Regional Airport.
Daily round-trip flights to Washington Dulles International Airport will resume Thursday through United Airlines. According to terminal manager Jason McMurtrie, one flight will be available Thursday — and, on Friday, two daily flights will then be available from that point on.
A third daily flight to D.C. will be added Aug. 19.
Little comes as a surprise, as United Airlines has telegraphed and announced these changes in the preceding months and years. In March 2022, the airline temporarily suspended service to Washington Dulles to reduce strain on the hub due to a shortage of pilots. In place of Washington Dulles, United instead scheduled two daily round-trip flights from State College to Newark (N.J.) Liberty International.
With the restoration of the D.C. flights, those trips to Newark will be discontinued Thursday.
A local airport official previously told the CDT, in December 2021, that United Airlines intended to fully restore service to D.C. sometime in 2023. Obviously, that deadline wasn’t met. But United Airlines announced in January 2024 that “more than 20 new daily flights” were coming this summer to Washington Dulles International Airport, and State College’s airport confirmed a month later that it was involved.
Two officials also confirmed the current plans to the CDT on Tuesday.
State College Regional Airport, which formally changed its name last year from University Park Airport, now offers daily flights to Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. American Airlines and United Airlines both use the airport.
