American Airlines Makes Big Cuts to November Schedule

American Airlines this week sliced its November schedule almost in half, citing a need to have its flights for the month match the low demand for travel.

American cut 86,000 flights from its schedule for the month, or 46 percent of its November itinerary according to The Dallas Morning News. Chicago-based United Airlines made a similar cut and reduced the number of flights for November by 52 percent, the newspaper noted.

Southwest and Delta also made reductions.

“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 Morning News. “In an effort to match low demand resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19), we continue to operate a reduced schedule in November.”

Airlines as a whole are operating at only 30 percent capacity, with many travelers reluctant to travel, or restricted by having to quarantine such as in New York, which has put 35 states on a list where travelers must go into lockdown for 14 days before touring New York.

Still, American will fly 99,362 flights in November, the most of any major airline.