DALLAS — An American Airlines flight departing New York’s La Guardia Airport on Sunday only carried 27 passengers on a 737-800 which had a seat capacity of 172, an airline spokesman said. That was the busiest flight the Fort Worth-based airline had in New York yesterday.
Nine other American Airlines flights departing La Guardia and neighboring JFK Airport on Sunday only carried one passenger on each.
“The demand for flights to the New York area is rapidly evaporating,” wrote David Seymour, American’s Senior Vice President of Operations, in a message to employees on Sunday.
American had already significantly reduced flights to the New York area in the wake of the spreading coronavirus. On Sunday, the airline announced even deeper cuts.
“We will temporarily suspend even more flights to these three airports starting Tuesday,” Seymour continued.
American will have gone from 271 daily flights from the New York area to just 13.
Beginning tomorrow, American will fly only two daily flights between La Guardia and DFW Airport and Charlotte. The airline will also have one daily departure from LGA to Boston, Chicago, Miami and to Washington D.C.
Starting tomorrow, American will operate one daily flight from both Newark and JFK to DFW, Charlotte and Miami.
And American is ending its daily flight from Newark to Chicago O’Hare beginning Thursday.
“This limited New York service will continue to provide critical connectivity for our customers, including transportation of any essential personnel and goods needed by the community and medical professionals battling the disease,” Seymour wrote. “The limited number of flights will have capacity restrictions in place to maintain social distancing onboard each aircraft.”
American’s airport operations in the New York area will only be open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It’s forbidding crews from spending the night in the city, as well.
