American Cuts Capacity from LaGuardia, JFK and More
Joe Cortez December 23, 2017
Legacy carrier pulls out of New York, Philadelphia and other former US Airways focus cities
If you feel like there are less American flights departing out of New York’s two major airports, you aren’t misinformed. An analysis by anna.aero revealed the legacy carrier is reducing their overall capacity out of both LaGuardia International Airport (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Between 2016 and 2017 – two of the first full years American and US Airways were integrated as one airline – the carrier notably cut 8.8 percent of its available departing seat capacity at JFK. At LGA, the cuts were smaller: only 3.1 percent of available outbound seats were removed.
Three other airports once important to US Airways operations also saw less available aircraft seats departing their terminals. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) had a cut of six percent compared year over year, while Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) saw a cut similar to that of LGA, with 3.5 percent less seats departing from the airport.
Of the legacy US Airways hubs, only one had more seats become available. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) had 1.3 percent more seats available. Also growing were three legacy American hubs: Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Miami International Airport (MIA).
The cuts are the most dramatic of all three legacy carriers, as both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines made more seats available at more of their hubs and focus cities in 2017. Among both carriers’ top 12 cities, Delta only dropped 1.1 percent of available outbound seats in Los Angeles and San Francisco, while United made less seats available from three: Houston, Los Angeles and Orlando.
The article is inconsistent. It mostly talks about seating capacity (which can be cut by using smaller planes, while perhaps simultaneously increasing flights), but in one paragraph it talks about flights rather than capacity. Flights and capacity are not synonyms for each other! So both (most of) the article, as well as a330boston's comment, could both be true simultaneously, if you take out the messed-up first paragraph which talks about numbers of flights when it shouldn't, because that's not what capacity measures.
I'm not sure of the numbers, but in any event there are FEWER flights, not less flights. Come on.
They have not been cutting PHL and LGA flights. They are in fact adding more flights from both airports.