Several Airlines Announce Reduction Of New York Summer Flights To Cut Down On Delays

United Airlines, Jet BlueAirways, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines have announced their decision to cut flights this summer in the New York area in an attempt to reduce delayed flights.

Flights could be scaled back at New York JFK and LaGuardia, and Newark airports by up to 10 percent this summer following U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidance on the controller shortage.

However, no flights have been removed from the carrier’s schedules, but it is expected.

“We need to reduce flying and make sure we can operate what we’ve got,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said on March 29.

The FAA also confirmed early last month that it expects air traffic controller staffing to report at about 54 percent of the levels needed to be entirely sufficient in the New York area; nationally, staffing will be about 81 percent.

The airline industry continues to grapple with issues. Last year, Delta CEO Ed Bastian highlighted air traffic control as the most “stressed” period of the aviation industry. United executives expressed the same sentiments a few weeks later. One issue is the 3-year training period for a new air traffic controller and the FAA’s suspension of training during the pandemic coupled with an already lean workforce.

There are also concerns regarding air traffic control management after reports of near misses at airports nationwide. In recent months, planes have nearly collided at airports in Austin, Boston, New York, and others. It remains unclear how many of these incidents are attributable to air traffic control or pilot errors.

Delta, United, and JetBlue are the three largest airlines with departures out of the three New York-area airports, according to Diio by Cirium schedules. Combined, they operate 69 percent of all departures from JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark between May through September.

A spokesperson for American Airlines confirmed Monday that the carrier, which is the fourth largest in the New York area, would “temporarily reduce frequencies on select routes” from LaGuardia and Newark.

The decrease in overall flights will likely be higher than the decline in available seats.