In response to warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration over air traffic controller staffing levels, United Airlines and American Airlines announced they will reduce the number of flights on several routes from airports in the New York City and Washington, D.C., area this summer.
The FAA announced last month that it will permit airlines to voluntarily return up to 10% of their summer New York-area slots. It's part of a concerted effort to lessen traffic in the area's skies amid a lack of air traffic controllers and the high summer travel volumes anticipated.
United announced it would cut back on flights from its hubs at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
The carrier will largely combine frequencies by employing larger, more spacious planes to reduce frequencies on a few regularly traveled routes.
With 408 peak-day daily departures currently scheduled for May, the Chicago-based carrier announced it will reduce 30 daily departures from Newark. Among those cuts, United announced it will reduce the number of daily departures from Newark to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) from 18 to 10. The airline announced that it would also cut the number of daily departures between Newark and Washington's Dulles International Airport (IAD) from nine to six.
A spokeswoman for United Airlines said in a statement that by consolidating some route frequencies onto larger aircraft, the airline's overall capacity at the impacted airports will rise by 5% in comparison to summer 2019. However, the spokesman stated that no marketplaces or routes had been completely eliminated.
Less than 2% of our passengers at these airports will be impacted by these modest changes, according to the airline, and the majority of them will still arrive at their destinations within two hours of their scheduled arrival time.
According to the airline, American also cut some of its LGA and EWR frequencies. According to Cirium data, the airline reduced summertime service between LaGuardia and Miami International Airport (MIA), Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Omaha's Eppley Airfield (OMA), and St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL), as well as between Newark and O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). American is working to accommodate affected travelers, according to a representative.
Although it had not yet made any decisions, Delta Air Lines stated that it was reviewing its schedule for potential chances to cut the frequency or flights from New York. For airlines wishing to utilize the summer slot waiver, the FAA set a deadline of April 30.
An airline spokesperson said in a statement that Delta "commends the FAA for recognizing shared challenges that exist between the FAA, airports, and airlines at New York and New Jersey airports" and for putting into action a coordinated plan to increase operational reliability at these airports while minimizing flight disruptions for passengers during the busiest travel period of the year.
At some busy airports, the "slots" system regulates traffic and avoids anti-competitive entrenchment; each pair of slots permits one arrival at an airport and one departure from it.
The FAA imposes a "use it or lose it" policy to stop airlines from holding slots they don't intend to use to undercut the competition. Each slot must be utilized by airlines at least 80% of the time. If not, the FAA may cancel the reservation and award the space to another airline.
The FAA announced last month that between May 15 and September 15, airlines could choose to temporarily return up to 10% of their slots due to a continuing shortage of air traffic controllers at its air traffic control center in the New York area. This shortage is not expected to be resolved until at least the fall.
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