United Airlines Holdings Inc. is cutting daily flights at its Newark Liberty International hub amid ongoing disruptions, and the lower volume of departures is expected to persist next summer as the company works to alleviate congestion.
(Bloomberg) — United Airlines Holdings Inc. is cutting daily flights at its Newark Liberty International hub amid ongoing disruptions, and the lower volume of departures is expected to persist next summer as the company works to alleviate congestion.
United, which handles 57% of passengers at the New Jersey airport, will trim daily flights to 390 in August from the roughly 410 it had been operating this summer, executives said Thursday during a conference call to discuss quarterly financial results. The carrier historically has operated 435 flights a day at Newark.
The airport is critical for United because it’s the airline’s largest hub for international departures and a primary gateway for domestic flights. Delays or cancellations there can ripple across the airline’s entire network. This summer, Newark’s operations have been snarled by storms, congestion and a shortage of air traffic controllers.
“We’re now doing more than ever to mitigate the impact of weather, congestion and other infrastructure constraints at Newark and, frankly, to build a schedule at Newark that’s more manageable given the frequency of weather events and the very real operating constraints that exist there, even on blue sky days,” Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said on a conference call Thursday.
The airline has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on changes to help reduce cancellations and delays, he said, adding that some steps already have been taken. United is also adding six gates and improving crew scheduling and other technology in its operations.
Read more: United Airlines May Reduce Newark Flights as It Seeks Gates
A series of storms that hit the northeastern US during the last week of June delayed 54% of United’s flights and forced the cancellation of nearly 20%, according to FlightAware.com data. The airline has been pushing federal regulators for more than a year to adjust departures and arrivals to help address delays.
The most recent reduction in flights trimmed United’s second-half capacity plans and raised its non-fuel costs for each seat flown a mile, a gauge of efficiency, the airline said. United and other carriers agreed earlier this year to trim flights by 10% at airports in the New York City area and Washington to help deal with a shortfall of air traffic controllers.
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