Service Reduction At LaGuardia, The Nation's Most Congested Airport, Intended To Help Reduce Delays For All Passengers
FORT WORTH , Texas - June 25, 2008 – American Airlines and its regional affiliate,
American Eagle, today announced additional details of their capacity
reductions for the fourth quarter of 2008. The reductions are in line
with American’s previously announced (May 21) plans of cutting fourth
quarter domestic capacity by 11 to 12 percent and regional affiliate
capacity by 10 to 11 percent versus fourth quarter 2007 levels. The
changes are being instituted to reduce costs and create a more
sustainable supply-and-demand balance in today’s high fuel-cost
environment.
Today’s announced reductions involve additional schedule changes
taking effect in November. Previously announced (May 27) reductions
will take effect in September.
American is reducing flights at most of its principal operations.
This announcement, combined with the previously announced round of
schedule reductions, means American will close its operations entirely
at three of its airports, while Eagle will close five of its airports,
out of a combined total of 250 airports for both. The airports/cities
being closed are:
- American – Oakland, Calif. (previously announced); London Stansted (previously announced); and Barranquilla , Colombia
-
American Eagle – Albany, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa.;
Samana, Dominican Republic (previously announced); and San Luis Obispo,
Calif. American Eagle will also close its maintenance base in San Luis
Obispo.
American plans to reduce its departures in Chicago by 28 flights
with American Eagle reducing 34 departures. In St. Louis, American will
reduce departures by 8 flights with American Eagle and
AmericanConnection reducing 35 departures. American will reduce 19
departures at Dallas/Fort Worth along with 23 American Eagle flight
reductions.
The company also has decided to eliminate five AA flights and 37
American Eagle jet departures at LaGuardia Airport. In addition to the
expected cost savings, these changes, coupled with appropriate
government action, could allow the airport to operate with less chronic
disruption and improve customer experience at one of the nation’s most
congested airports.
“Today, the dependability and delay issues that exist at LaGuardia
have reached a crisis point and have a daily negative impact on the
overall customer service and performance for every airline with flights
at LaGuardia,” said Bob Reding, American’s Executive Vice President –
Operations.
Historical data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on
operational performance at LaGuardia highlights the issues. During the
last five years, for example, delays at LaGuardia have increased 50
percent and now occur on one out of every four departures, with these
delays averaging more than one hour. In large part, these delays are
attributable to Air Traffic Control’s inability to handle the scheduled
service levels.
American and American Eagle regret the potential impact these
schedule changes will have on its people. The company is in the process
of determining the overall impact on its employees, and it is the
company’s intent to offer voluntary programs before moving to
involuntary separations.
