Delta Makes Unpopular Move, Following American, United, JetBlue

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Airlines are well-known for doing things after another airline or two have introduced the concept. For example:

• American Airlines was the first airline to introduce charging passengers to check bags. Delta and United soon followed.
• After Delta started selling snack boxes on some of its flights, other airlines introduced similar services.
• Spirit Airlines introduced fees for carry-on bags in 2010. Other Ultra-low-cost carriers soon did the same.
• After Delta invented “Basic Economy,” it didn’t take long for American and United to do so, as well.

Although it has little to do with fees, Delta is now ready to follow what American, United and JetBlue have already done – cut flights from the New York City area airports, as well as Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National and Boston’s Logan Airport over the summer.

The reason, of course, is the FAA’s severe shortage of air traffic controllers. This has forced the agency to request airlines flying out of the airports in the areas most severely hit to voluntarily cut their flight schedules by 10%.

American, United and JetBlue had already cut their summer schedules accordingly. Delta is now following through, with plans for minimal cuts in flights leaving from New York in June and July but with a 6.3% of its flights cut from New York’s LaGuardia (LGA) and JFK airports in August (just over 2,000 flights cut).

Flights between LGA and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will be the most affected, with a decrease of about 37%.

According to Simple Flying, other routes that will see reductions will include:

• LaGuardia to Hartford (BDL), Atlanta (ATL), Bangor (BGR), Denver (DEN), Charleston (CHS), Tampa (TPA), Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis (MSP), Miami (MIA), West Palm Beach (PBI), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
• Atlanta (ATL) to Newark (EWR), Baltimore (BWI)
• Detroit (DTW) to Baltimore (BWI)
• JFK to Boston (BOS), Charleston (CHS), Charlotte (CLT), Washington Dulles (IAD), Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP), Norfolk (ORF), Portland (PWM), Syracuse (SYR), Atlanta (ATL), San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX), San Diego (SAN), Portland – Oregon (PDX), Santo Domingo (SDQ), and Seattle (SEA)

“As of April 3, American Airlines had removed 4,790 flights to or from JFK, LaGuardia and Reagan National, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport, from its May 1 to Sept. 30 schedule compared with what was filed on Feb. 3, 2023,” according to data from Cirium.

United Airlines had cut nearly as many, with 4,353 flights no longer scheduled. JetBlue had removed 3,565 flights.

Of course, while the FAA appreciates the cut flights and the airlines won’t have to worry about staffing said flights, it still means less choice for consumers. So for them, the cuts are disappointing.

To date, Southwest Airlines has not cut any of its flights around the affected areas.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary