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New York has become the epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. As such travel demand to the city has collapsed, as has demand across the world. In response, United, one of the largest carriers in the city, has made drastic reductions to its flying schedule. In total, the airline will have 17 daily flights to New York, with a majority of the flights at its hub at Newark.
At Newark, the airlines’ third-largest hub will have 15 daily flights to nine destinations. Presently the airline currently serves 139 flights to 62 destinations. Newark, United’s primary European departure hub, has already seen most of its international flights suspended. Three international flights will remain, with service to London-Heathrow, Tel Aviv, and Frankfurt.
LaGuardia will see a drop to only two daily flights to one destination. Currently, the airline has 18 flights to four destinations. The remaining service will be two daily flights to Chicago O’Hare. There will be one flight departing LaGuardia at 11:00 a.m. with the second flight departing 4:15 p.m.
The cuts go into effect Sunday, April 5 and are scheduled to last for at least three weeks. Leadership has said that all employees at both stations will continue to be paid and receive benefits during the reduction in service. In addition, some employees will remain on call in case of diversions or humanitarian flights. The airline is making the move to reduce the risk to its employees and helping to mitigate the spread of the disease.
In addition to United, American slso announced a dramatic cut to its New York flying for the remainder of April. In total the airline will have 13 daily flights between the three major New York airports. This is reduced from 271 daily flights the airline operated to the city at the same time last year. All flights will operate between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and will be operated by out of base crews with no layovers.
LaGuardia will see the most service from American with nine daily flights. There will be two daily flights to Charlotte and Dallas, while once-daily flights to Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C. Across Queens, Kennedy will see three daily flights, once each to Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte and Miami. In New Jersey, Newark will see only two daily flights, with once-daily service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Charlotte.
Similar to United, American is making the reductions not only due to the reduced demand to the city, but also to protect the health and safety of its employees. The reductions for American will come into effect on Tuesday, April 7.
Spirit Airlines already announced it was suspending service to the tri-State area with service suspended at LaGuardia, Newark, Hartford, Plattsburgh, and Niagra Falls. Jetblue Airways has also announced that it will be suspending 80 percent of its flights from the New York area.
Daniel has always had aviation in his life; from moving to the United States when he was two, to family vacations across the U.S., and back to his native England. He currently resides in South Florida and attends Nova Southeastern University, studying Human Factors in Aviation. Daniel has his Commercial Certificate for both land and sea, and hopes to one day join the major airlines.
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