CLEVELAND — United Airlines is dropping nonstop service between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and two business-oriented airports, New York LaGuardia and Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. The changes take effect March 29.

A spokesman for United said the airline would be adding new capacity to existing service from Cleveland to Newark International Airport and Dulles International Airport. He said there would be no net decrease in total seats to the New York City and Washington, D.C., areas.

Even so, frequent fliers who have remained loyal to United in the years since the carrier operated a hub in Cleveland are likely to be displeased.

Reagan National is much closer to downtown Washington than Dulles; LaGuardia, too, is considered a more convenient airport for travelers with business in Manhattan.

Spokesman Jonathan Guerin tried to put a positive spin on the announcement. “With these changes, we expect that there will be an increase in the number of premium seats that are available,” he said. The changes, he added, “give people traveling from Cleveland that experience of the mainline service and it also connects them to even more of our global route network.”

Most United flights to Reagan National and LaGuardia are on smaller, regional jets. Flights to Dulles and Newark, both United hubs, are more likely to be on larger, mainline aircraft.

Read more: Cleveland Hopkins airport passenger traffic hits 10 million in 2019, up 4%

Guerin said he did not believe the route reduction in Cleveland was related to a new shuttle service the carrier plans to launch between Reagan National and Newark airports.

After United announced the shuttle service in October, many Cleveland travelers expressed concern that the carrier would swap its five Cleveland slots at Washington and use them for the shuttle.

Cleveland travelers still have options to both LaGuardia and Reagan National. American and Delta airlines both fly to LaGuardia, and American flies nonstop between Cleveland and Reagan National.

In addition, an official with Hopkins said it’s likely other airlines will fill in the gaps to meet demand.

Last year, after United dropped nonstop service between Cleveland and Boston, Delta Airlines started flying the route three weeks later.

In addition to the changes to the Washington and New York markets, Guerin said that United would be adding a Cleveland to Tampa weekend flight back into the schedule, starting in the spring.

The dropping of Reagan National and LaGuardia brings the number of nonstop destinations from Cleveland served by United to just 12. That’s down from 59 in early 2014, when the carrier operated a hub in Cleveland.

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