AE Takes Brunt of AA Cuts

American is drastically cutting American 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 American Eagle's 37. The airline cited the fact that both AA and AE routes are losing money in this fuel environment.
The mainline airline is doing exactly what government officials want – taking regional jet flights out of the 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. Related Story
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.
The service cuts will be effective in November. 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. Delta is also cancelling its San Luis Obispo operation. American is closing stations at Barranquilla, Colombia, London Stansted and Oakland, Calif.
"Today, the dependability and delay issues that exist at LaGuardia have reached a crisis point and have a daily negative impact on the overall customer service and performance for every airline with flights at LaGuardia," said Bob Reding, American's executive vice president - operations. “With the retirement of American's five operations per hour at LaGuardia, the DOT will be able to achieve more than one-third of the objective, and will be well on its way to providing a real solution to the operational problems plaguing LaGuardia today."
Historical data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on operational performance at LaGuardia highlights the issues. During the last five years, for example, delays at LaGuardia have increased 50 percent and now occur on one out of every four departures, with these delays averaging more than one hour. In large part, these delays are attributable to Air Traffic Control's inability to handle the scheduled service levels.
Likewise, inbound delays have increased by 55 percent and occur on four out of every 10 arrivals, on average delaying arrivals by 60 minutes. In addition, cancellations at the airport now average over 5 percent, an increase of more than 50 percent.
American has called for the FAA and the Department of Transportation to reduce the number of operations allowed at LaGuardia by 20 percent – or approximately 15 operations per hour until FAA airspace redesign efforts, ATC modernization, and other steps increase the level at which LaGuardia can operate reliably.
At La Guardia, American Eagle will lose 37 regional jet departures at to American’s five by eliminating all eight flights out of the Boston market along with the four flights it had to Cleveland, five to Charlotte, four to Cincinnati, six to Washington National, two to Memphis, four to Louisville and two to Pittsburgh. To Columbus, where it has a maintenance base, and to Detroit, it is eliminating two of the five flights, one to Raleigh/Durham (RDU), leaving six, and one of the three flights to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, home to Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods. It is also eliminating one of three Montreal flights but adding one Cedar Rapids flight, home to Rockwell Collins.
Mainline service from La Guardia will be eliminated to Tampa, Raleigh, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Minneapolis in favor of adding service to business destinations at Dallas, Miami and West Palm Beach. One flight to Chicago will also be eliminated.
AE will lose 23 flights at Dallas/Fort Worth to American’s 19. Most reductions at DFW eliminate one or two daily frequencies but retain service. However, American Eagle will be eliminating all flights to Huntsville, Tulsa, Monterrey, Mexico, Nassau and Oklahoma City in favor of mainline service there. DFW-Louisville will also be eliminated in favor of a code-share with Midwest Airlines.
At Chicago, American Eagle lose 34 flights to American’s 28. AE will be substituting some flights for mainline service to Albuquerque, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Montreal and Washington National and Detroit. It will also eliminate Chicago service to Albany, N.Y., Birmingham, Baton Rouge, Dayton, Gulfport, Greenville/Spartanburg, Jackson, Harrisburg, Mobile, Pensacola, Providence, Shreveport, Okaloosa, Fla. and Nassau. American Eagle picks up two flights to JFK, substituting for American, which will fly one flight daily. Its Chicago-RDU service will be done by Midwest Airlines.
Similarly, at St. Louis, AmericanConnection will lose 35 departures to American’s eight. Most reductions in service involved one or two frequencies, but American Connection service to Baltimore and Columbus will go while American Eagle eliminates JFK and substitutes for American and Raleigh.