United Airlines is trimming back its schedule at its most important East Coast hub.
United has been slowly but systematically cutting its schedule from Newark Airport in New Jersey, generally considered one of the three big airports to serve the New York market. Now add more than a more.
United said it will eliminate 15 more flights from Newark Airport.
The airline continues to maintain it has operational issues at the airport and insist that it will impact less than 4 percent of travelers who use the hub.
This news does not come as a surprise.
United said more than three months ago that it planned to cut flight from Newark. The airline is just one of several carriers that agreed to the Federal Aviation Administration request to trim its flights to help with the shortage of air traffic controllers.
United CEO Scott Kirby has been one of the most vocal critics of the short staffing on the part of the FAA.
In a memo to staff earlier this month, Kirby wrote that “the FAA frankly failed us.”
With the combination of a nationwide pilot shortage and an air traffic control shortage, it’s the perfect storm for airlines.
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