American Airlines Cuts 100,000 Flights in December Schedule 'to Match Low Demand'
American Airlines is cutting its December schedule by nearly 50%, removing more than 100,000 flights for the holiday season "in an effort to match the low demand resulting from coronavirus."
American posted its new schedule over the weekend, matching cuts from other major airlines as demand fails to materialize with the fast-approaching holiday season, according to Dallas-based Airline Data Inc.
"We're constantly evaluating our network to match supply and demand and have been making regular schedule adjustments since March," said American Airlines spokeswoman Nichelle Tait. "In an effort to match low demand resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19), we continue to operate a reduced schedule."
With the cuts, American now has 105,619 flights on its December schedule, about 10,000 more than in November.
December is typically an important month for airlines, giving them a welcomed traffic boost between Thanksgiving and New Year's after slow leisure demand in the "shoulder months" of September and October and before another slow period until spring break. But this year, with COVID-19 surging across the country and government warnings against large gatherings, many passengers continue to sit out the holiday travel season as they have avoided travel since March.
American made similar cuts to its November schedule more than a month ago and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines cut about half of its December schedule as well.
While American's biggest hubs at DFW International and Charlotte were cut less, the carrier eliminated nearly all of its flights at JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York, along with steep cuts at hubs at Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
American reduced its flight schedule by 86% at both JFK and LaGuardia Airports in New York City. American will now operate about 15 flights a day at JFK for the month of December and about 22 a day from LaGuardia.
The cuts in New York aren't surprising considering that the state and neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut have one of the country's most aggressive set of travel restrictions, requiring people from most of the country to quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
Total travel at JFK Airport was down 88% year over year in August. JFK is a major international travel launching point that has been hammered by a myriad of global travel restrictions.
The city of Chicago recently tightened its travel restrictions, too, to set limits on travelers from 31 states and Washington, D.C.
However, American is leaving in a few more flights in the second half of December as it does expect slightly stronger travel demand around the Christmas holiday.
"In December, our schedule will be approximately 50% smaller than the same time period last year, with the exception of the last two weeks of the month, which will be approximately 45% smaller than the same time period last year during the holiday peak," Tait said.
Running a more robust schedule in the last half of December makes sense considering the fact that airlines have seen stronger demand around holidays such as Labor Day and relatively fewer passengers in the middle of weeks.
"We do anticipate that the Thanksgiving period and the December second half period will be relatively stronger ... because we have seen the last several holidays — Columbus Day, Labor Day, July 4th and Memorial Day — become sequentially stronger," said American Airlines chief revenue officer Vasu Raja in a call with investors last month.
Transportation Security Administration passenger screening numbers show that airline traffic is still around 36% of what it was a year ago. More than a million passengers went through screening checkpoints on Oct. 18, the last day of fall break for millions of school-age children and their families in the southern part of the country.
While American is busy reducing its December flight schedule and notifying customers of the changes, other airlines are looking further ahead. Southwest Airlines last week reduced its January flight schedule by 36%, running about 67,400 flights for the entire country during the month.
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