New York To Lose Nonstop Service to 25 Cities
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Nonstop flights to 25 cities from New York City are set to end next month, the latest round of casualties in an industry reeling from high fuel prices and weak economic conditions.
Service to 55 other domestic and international cities will be curtailed as well, according to data compiled by FareCompare.com. The analysis was first reported in this week’s issue of Crain’s New York Business.
Leisure destinations will be hardest hit, the CEO of FareCompare, Rick Seaney, told The New York Sun. Cities set to lose nonstop service entirely include Binghamton; Bangkok, Thailand; Daytona Beach, Fla., and Tucson, Ariz. In addition, reduced flights to larger American cities, such as Atlanta, will likely result in higher fares.
Airline schedules are showing no sign of improvement in the near future. By early 2009, the country’s overall capacity will be reduced by 180,000 seats each day compared to early 2008, Mr. Seaney said. The reduction will bring the country’s air traffic back to 1998 levels, he said.
“The bottom line is, we’re losing a decade of growth in domestic aviation,” he said. “That’s going to inconvenience a lot of fliers.”
Airlines have been forced to cut flights and staff to contend with skyrocketing fuel costs, though oil prices have dropped somewhat recently.
“The airline industry is in a crisis,” the senior management of Continental Airlines wrote in June, when it announced the capacity cuts. “Its business model doesn’t work with the current price of fuel.”
