United Continental Holdings has announced it will introduce a daily non-stop service between Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Florida city of Sarasota from November 4, 2012. The new flight will be operated using a Boeing 737-800 configured with 154 seats - 16 in United First, 48 in Economy Plus and 90 in Economy.

"This new route complements United's existing service between Chicago and eight other cities in Florida," said Martin Kammerman, Senior Manager of New Markets and Analysis, United Airlines. "In addition to providing Midwest travelers with easy access to Florida's southwest Gulf coast, this new service will give travellers from the Sarasota-Bradenton area convenient connections to United's global network from our Chicago hub."

In the past year an estimated 3.94 million passengers flew between Florida and Chicago O’Hare. Approximately 2.67 million of these were O&D passengers with around 804,000 connecting to other domestic US destinations from Chicago and a further 467,000 transiting in Chicago to international routes.

There are currently no direct flights between Sarasota-Bradenton International and Chicago O’Hare International, although AirTran Airways does currently offer a double daily link to Chicago Midway Airport, a route on which around 141,000 O&D passengers travelled during 2011. As part of its ongoing merger with Southwest Airlines, AirTran will be suspending all of its routes to Sarasota-Bradenton International from August 12, 2012 and this is likely to have played a major role in United’s entry into this particular market.