American Airlines, citing the need to match its schedule with the number of bookings, will cut up to 100,000 flights in the month of December due to low demand over the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s a nearly 50 percent reduction over the holidays, according to the Dallas Morning News, and it comes at what is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year.
“We’re constantly evaluating our network to match supply and demand and have been making regular schedule adjustments since March,” American Airlines spokeswoman Nichelle Tait told the paper. “In an effort to match low demand resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19), we continue to operate a reduced schedule.”
American posted its new schedule over the weekend, matching cuts from other major airlines as demand fails to materialize with the fast-approaching holiday season, according to Dallas-based Airline Data Inc.
But that data would also refute the theory that emerged earlier this week that ‘pandemic fatigue’ and pent-up demand among travelers is boosting holiday bookings.
American made similar cuts to its November schedule more than a month ago, and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines cut about half of its December schedule as well, according to the Morning News.
“In December, our schedule will be approximately 50% smaller than the same time period last year, with the exception of the last two weeks of the month, which will be approximately 45% smaller than the same time period last year during the holiday peak,” Tait said.
“We do anticipate that the Thanksgiving period and the December second half period will be relatively stronger … because we have seen the last several holidays — Columbus Day, Labor Day, July Fourth and Memorial Day — become sequentially stronger,” American Airlines chief revenue officer Vasu Raja said in a call with investors last month.
Transportation Security Administration passenger screening numbers show that airline traffic is still around 36 percent of what it was a year ago.
