American offers CHO-Chi Town nonstop service

Getting to the Windy City from Charlottesville soon will become more of a breeze. American Airlines announced Monday that its regional carrier, American Eagle, will be making two nonstop round-trip runs a day.

"It's a new airline and a new destination for us," says Barbara Hutchinson, executive director of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport.

The service to Chicago O'Hare International begins June 9 with flights leaving Charlottesville at 6:30am and 4:25pm daily. Flights from O'Hare will depart at 1:10pm and 8:55pm.

American Eagle will use an Embraer (pronounced "ember air") 44-seat regional jet. The advantage, says Hutchinson, is it will not be impacted by high humidity and temperature that make other regional jets unable to take off when fully fueled and loaded.

In 2005, Delta launched the CHO-to-Detroit service, expanded it in 2009, but killed it last year. Hutchinson notes that 50-seat aircraft serving Detroit sometimes limited passengers to 40. And that's why CHO is lengthening its runway by 800 feet.

American will be the fourth carrier flying out of Charlottesville, and that will promote more competition, says Hutchinson. And Chicago service to now makes it possible to go one-stop from Charlottesville to Shanghai or Tokyo.