By Linda Loyd, The Philadelphia Inquirer –
PHILADELPHIA — American Airlines said Thursday it will reduce its flight schedule by 1 percent through the first half of November because of continuing flight delays and cancellations. While “encouraged” by improvements in some performance metrics, the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier said “overall, we are not yet back to the levels our customers deserve and expect.”
The change will not affect holiday travel, American said in a memo to employees.
American earlier reduced its flying by 1 percent to 2 percent through October. “We are extending our previously announced schedule reductions through the first half of November” to allow additional time for operations to return to normal, the memo said.
On Wednesday, 73 percent of American’s flights arrived on time, 207 were delayed, and 10 canceled systemwide, according to industry tracker FlightStats.com.
In September, after American imposed concessions on pilots to help the airline restructure in bankruptcy and announced it would lay off more than 4,000 mechanics and ground workers, American’s on-time performance plummeted. In September, only 59 percent of American flights arrived on time, 21,237 were delayed, and 1,391 canceled, FlightStats said.
