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 holiday season quickly approaching, 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 spokeswoman Nichelle Tait. "In an effort to match low demand resulting from coronavirus, 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.
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December is typically a busy month for airlines, giving them a welcomed traffic increase 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 people 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 its December schedule as well.
While American's biggest hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth International and Charlotte, N.C., were cut less, the carrier eliminated nearly all 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 and will now operate about 15 flights a day at JFK for 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 some of the country's most aggressive travel restrictions, requiring people from most of the country to quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
Total travel at JFK was down 88% year over year in August. It's a major international travel launching point that has been hammered by a myriad of global travel restrictions.
Chicago recently tightened its travel restrictions as well 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.