United ups Denver flights in latest growth move

United is adding more than 60 mainline flights per week at its Denver hub, the latest step in an effort to capture more connecting traffic over the mid-continent gateway. The carrier will restructure its schedule at Denver International airport on Thursday as part of a process known as "rebanking". The move will see more arriving and departing flights clustered together in defined "banks", with the busiest bank at roughly 09:00 handling 57 mainline flights. The process will see United add more flights from Denver, already its fastest-growing hub. It will operate an average of 420 daily departures from the airport during the week after 14 February, compared to an average of 376 daily departures a year prior, FlightGlobal schedules data shows. "Rebanking provides enhanced flexibility for our customers and increases connection opportunities which ultimately provides greater access to more destinations," the airline said of the new schedule in a newsletter to pilots on 6 February. The new schedule includes 64 additional weekly mainline flights, it adds. The changes in Denver are just the latest piece of United's mid-continent hub strategy. Since January 2018, the carrier has accelerated domestic capacity growth with a focus on adding connections over its hubs in Chicago, Denver and Houston to capture what its executives see as its "natural share" of the US market.<br/>