United Airlines today will begin offering one daily nonstop flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to both Los Angeles and San Francisco, replacing similar service that US Airways scrapped Monday.

In almost simultaneous announcements in April, US Airways said it would stop flying from Pittsburgh to the West Coast in mid-August while United set a Sept. 2 start date for its new flights there, before later moving the date to today.

Local officials "didn't do any begging or pleading" to get United to move up the start date, said Ken Zapinski, a vice president at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, who heads the Regional Air Service Partnership. He said, however, that officials had been "in discussion for years" with the carrier about establishing West Coast service.

"As US Airways continued to cut their position here, we didn't think it was wise to count on that service forever," Zapinski said.

United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said the carrier "saw an opportunity to move sooner on the routes as a result of US Airways pulling back service. We think it's a service that will work."

United's flight to San Francisco will leave Pittsburgh at 8:30 a.m. and touch down at 10:58 a.m. PST. The Los Angeles flight will depart at 6 p.m. and arrive at 8:16 p.m. PST.