This summer, starting on July 1, United Airlines will cut 50 daily departures from Newark, New Jersey, a 12 percent reduction in the airline’s schedule there.
The airline announced on Thursday that affected passengers’ flights will be notified about alternate possibilities.
The action, according to United’s Executive Vice President of Operations Jon Roitman, is intended to keep things running more smoothly after a string of terrible days thus far this summer.
“After the last few weeks of irregular operations in Newark, caused by many factors including airport construction, we reached out to the FAA and received a waiver allowing us to temporarily adjust our schedule there for the remainder of the summer,” Roitman said.
“We do not anticipate any schedule changes at our other six domestic hubs this summer.”
All domestic flights are being canceled, according to United, and all markets the airline services out of Newark will still be connected, but occasionally at a reduced frequency.
In light of the summer travel boom, United is not the only airline that is altering its timetable. In addition to JetBlue’s earlier announcement of a 10 percent flight cut this summer, American Airlines this week stated that it would terminate service to four locations on regional affiliates after Labor Day.
Although a lack of pilots is a major factor in many of these layoffs, United maintains that its own staffing has nothing to do with the reductions in Newark.
“Even though we have the planes, pilots, crews, and staff to support our Newark schedule, this (FAA) waiver will allow us to remove about 50 daily departures which should help minimize excessive delays and improve on-time performance – not only for our customers, but for everyone flying through Newark,” Roitman said. “Our (COVID) recovery plan has been to only sell a schedule we could fly and put customers first, even if that meant sacrificing some short-term revenue.”
