AE Takes Brunt of AA Cuts

American is drastically cutting Eagle flights at La Guardia in a bid to restore operational reliability, according to the airline, which is cutting only five departures at the airport to Ameican Eagl's 37. The mainline airline is doing exactly what government officials want – taking regional jet flights out of the three New York area airports despite the fact that Regional Airline Association statistics show it is narrow-body growth that it the real culprit behind congestion. Related Story The move is a realization of what regional operators feared, that towns that depend on business travel to New York will suffer.
As part of the 10 to 11 percent capacity cut American Eagle announced last month, the regional will close five of its airports while American, which is trying to shed 11 to 12 percent, is closing three stations out of the 250 the two carriers serve. American Eagle will also lose 37 regional jet departures at La Guardia to American’s five and 24 at Chicago to American’s 28. Eagle and AmericanConnection will lose 35 departures at St. Louis to American’s eight and 23 at Dallas/Fort Worth to American’s 19.
The service cuts will be effective in November rather than the originally scheduled September. In addition to Albany, N.Y., American Eagle is closing Providence, Harrisburg, San Luis Obispo, where one of its predecessor airlines – Wings West – was founded, as well as Samana, Dominican Republic. AE is also closing its maintenance base at San Luis Obispo. American is closing stations at Barranquilla, Colombia, London Stansted and Oakland, Calif. For a complete report see the next issue of Regional Aviation News.