American Airlines cuts 31,000 flights from its November schedule

Redacción - Aviación al Día

4 years ago

American Airlines has cut thousands of flights from its November schedule as part of the airline’s efforts to reduce the disruptions that have plagued the industry this year.

The airline cut 31,000, or 16%, fewer flights for the month containing the busy Thanksgiving travel period, data from aviation analytics company Cirium showed.

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The data shows that the biggest cuts are among Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston and Philadelphia.

“Preliminary schedules are posted 331 days in advance and then closer adjustments are made based on the schedule we intend to operate,” American said in a statement. “We are now uploading schedule adjustments approximately 100 days in advance, which is in line with how we adjusted our schedule in 2019 before the pandemic.”

Airlines make changes based on factors such as demand forecasts or staffing levels, said Mike Arnot, a spokesman for Cirium.

“For passengers, the impact could be negligible; instead of 15 daily flights between Dallas and Chicago, there could be nine flights but with more seats,” Arnot said.

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The airline, which has already cut more than 19,000 flights this year, expects current-quarter capacity to decline 8% to 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Flight cancellations and delays for US airlines in the first seven months of the year have exceeded the comparable period in 2019, according to data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.