JetBlue to Trim New York Flights This Summer
JetBlue is preparing to trim its schedule in New York flights during the summer travel season. The move comes after federal regulators asked carriers to reduce schedules by as much as 10% at some of the nation’s busiest airports from May 15 through Sept. 15.
“This summer is going to be really hard again,” Chief Executive Robin Hayes said Wednesday at the Economic Club of New York. “We need to reduce flying and make sure we can operate what we’ve got.”
The reductions will occur because of a shortage in air-traffic controllers. The cuts across the industry are required to avoid the issues seen last summer. Without these cuts it could be about 45% worse than what we saw last year.
Staffing at the air traffic control center that handles all inbound, outbound and through traffic across New York airspace is only at 54% of what is needed.
Hayes said the latest measure is particularly impactful for JetBlue, which is based in Queens, New York. The majority of its flights take off from or land in the city or transit its airspace. “We’re staffed, we’ve already trained pilots, we’re paying for pilots, we’ve bought airplanes, we’re paying for gates and slots,” Hayes said. “This is going to have a very significant financial impact on JetBlue and our customers.”
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are also preparing to cut flights this summer to ease congestion and delays.
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The mismanagement of FAA by the Federal government and the feckless Dept. of Transportation is almost too difficult to believe. This could never happen where ATC has been privatized like Canada.