Carriers are making large cuts in service to the New York area as the region grapples with the largest Covid-19 outbreak within the United States.
On Sunday, American Airlines announced it was cutting its service to New York airports by 90 percent for the rest of the month. The carrier will operate only eight daily departures from LaGuardia airport and three daily departures from John F. Kennedy International Airport through May 6. By comparison, a year ago, American had 170 daily flights from LaGuardia and 80 from JFK.
United Airlines announced a similar level of reduction over the weekend. The carrier is reducing service at its Newark hub from 139 flights to 62 destinations per day to 15 flights to nine destinations per day, and it is cutting LaGuardia flights from 18 per day to only two, EVP and chief operations officer Greg Hart said in a memo to employees. Those changes will be in effect for at least three weeks, he said.
Employees scheduled to work in those locations during the reduction will receive pay and benefits even if they are not on duty, Hart said.
JetBlue has cut its service from New York to about 40 daily flights, down from 200 daily flights, according to CNBC. Spirit Airlines has suspended operations at New York airports altogether through May 4.
New York has emerged as the epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis for the U.S., with more than 122,000 reported cases and nearly 4,200 deaths as of Sunday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the weekend said he expected the region to hit its peak number of cases in about a week.