United Airlines confirmed it would cut some spring and summer flights in the New York and
United Airlines confirmed it would cut some spring and summer flights in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted carriers scheduling flexibility in those cities.
Several U.S. carriers previously confirmed similar plans.
The FAA on March 22 announced it would give airlines flexibility on the slot usage requirements it has in place at New York’s John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports as well as at Reagan Washington National Airport. United said it would reduce frequency on routes involving those airports as well as Newark Liberty International Airport.
“In support of the FAA’s efforts to reduce air traffic in the New York City area this summer, we’ve reduced some frequencies to our daily schedules at Newark, LaGuardia and Washington Reagan,” according to a United statement. “In many cases, we’ll replace the frequencies with larger aircraft to minimize the disruption to our customers’ travel plans.”
United currently has loaded its schedule adjustments through May and will continue to update its schedule for the remainder of the summer over the next two weeks. Specific May schedule changes include Newark reduced peak day daily departures to 408 from 438, reductions from LaGuardia to Washington Dulles to six from nine daily departures, and daily flights between Newark and Washington Reagan to be reduced to 10 from 18.
“Even taking into account the small reductions, United will fly 5 percent more seats out of these airports than we did in summer 2019,” according to the carrier. “These small reductions will affect less than 2 percent of our customers at these airports—most of whom will still reach their destinations within two hours of their planned arrival time.”
Fearing Congestion, Carriers Cutting Summer NYC, D.C. Schedules
