United Airlines is adding seasonal, nonstop flights between Houston and Durango beginning in December.
For the first time, United will offer twice-weekly flights between George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Durango-La Plata County Airport during the winter months. The service will begin Dec. 19 and run through March 27 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, on a 70-seat aircraft.
Service to Houston has steadily grown over the past several years, but primarily in the summer, said Tony Vicari, aviation director for DRO. It began with weekend service before expanding to daily service. Daily service continued this summer but on a larger aircraft than before.
“Summer Houston has shown strength, and United has continued to invest in it in expanding aircraft and service periods, which has been great,” Vicari said. “Ultimately, the goal is to be able to hopefully establish something closer to year-round service over the Houston hub.”
Vicari said United’s winter Houston flights will act as a market test to see how the flights perform, which could lead to expanded Houston services. Airport travel normally peaks in July and the winter months are typically slower, Vicari said, so United adding a Houston route in the winter is significant.
The decision to add the route is ultimately up to the airline, but the airport does make recommendations and argue the case for how the company can benefit from a route, Vicari said. It’s a major decision for an airline, especially considering the cost of placing a flight crew and aircraft in Durango versus on another route, Vicari said.
“Every community in the country is usually asking for some form of more air service, and so getting that added here in Durango is a big win for us,” he said.
The winter nonstop route is one step closer to year-round nonstop flights to Houston, but it’s also indicative of DRO’s overall growth, Vicari said.
In July, the airport saw just shy of 61,000 passengers pass through, Vicari said. That surpassed the previous monthly record established just a month earlier in June with roughly 59,000 passengers. The July record showed a 4% growth from July 2025, which is smaller than previous year-over-year growth, but no cause for concern, Vicari said. June 2026 showed a 15% increase in passengers compared to June 2025.
“Peak summer is a very busy time in Durango, and seeing aggressive double-digit growth in that period sometimes represents growth that we like to see spread out more evenly throughout the year,” Vicari said.
Vicari said United investing in the winter Houston service gives the airport the chance to grow traffic in those months that tend to be less active. Continued growth at DRO shows preference for DRO compared to other options, Vicari said.
“We've continued to see an uptick in local traffic, visiting traffic – kind of all demographics – which has been really healthy,” he said. “It’s been exciting to see that people are choosing to fly through DRO – use our airport versus other options such as Albuquerque or Denver.”
The decision to fly out of DRO helps drive airlines to expand routes and frequencies, Vicari said, adding it’s preferable to use DRO in a travel itinerary because it shows demand and encourages airlines to add services.
gwallace@durangoherald.com
