Will Cut Service To ORD, LGA, DFW, STL; Say Goodnight To OAK, SBP

We now know just how far the ax will drop on flight schedules at American Airlines and American Eagle later this year. The struggling airline and its regional affiliate announced Wednesday they will scale back service at a number of US airports, -- including three hubs -- in order "to reduce costs and create a more sustainable supply-and-demand balance in today's high fuel-cost environment."

If that sounds like so much corporate spin to you... just wait.

American announced it plans to cut 28 mainline flights in Chicago, with American Eagle dropping another 34 departures, starting in the fourth quarter of this year. American will cut another 8 departures at St. Louis, with a staggering 35 STL departures trimmed from American Eagle and AmericanConnection schedules.

Even American's DFW headquarters isn't spared, with 19 mainline departures and 23 American Eagle flight reductions. "While we never like to see air service reductions at DFW, we understand that American Airlines is doing what it needs to do for its long-term success," said DFW Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Fegan. "Everyone understands the challenges of high fuel prices right now, whether you're filling up your car or an airline is fueling up its aircraft. We support American Airlines in its efforts and will continue to maintain an effective hub that is cost competitive, operationally efficient and offers great customer service so American and all airlines can be successful here."

The cutbacks are part of American's previously announced plans to trim mainline capacity by 11 to 12 percent, and regional service by as much as 11 percent, over Q4 2007 figures. American also announced in May it planned to shutter its operations in Oakland, CA and London Stansted this year; on Wednesday, it added Barranquilla, Colombia to the list of closed airports.

American Eagle will end service to Albany, NY; Providence, RI; Harrisburg, PA; Samana, Dominican Republic; and San Luis Obispo, CA. The regional carrier will also shutter its maintenance facility at SBP. The cuts leave 242 airports serviced by either American mainline, or its regional affiliates.

American and American Eagle are the process of determining the overall impact on its employees, "and it is the company’s intent to offer voluntary programs before moving to involuntary separations," the carrier added.

Here comes the spin. American also announced it will eliminate a total of 42 departures from New York's LaGuardia, most of them coming from American Eagle. While acknowledging the move will cut its costs, American also noted the cutbacks could help that airport's well-known congestion issues.

"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 American's VP of Operations, Bob Reding.

But wait... that's not all. American has called for the FAA and the Department of Transportation to apply similar cuts to other airlines, as well. Reding says LGA operations should be reduced by 20 percent, or roughly 15 operations per hour, "until FAA airspace redesign efforts, ATC modernization, and other steps increase the level at which LaGuardia can operate reliably."

In light of Wednesday's announced cutbacks, such a move would also put other airlines serving LaGuardia on a playing field level with American.

"As airport utilization increases, on-time arrival performance at any airport declines," Reding said. "The decline is particularly evident as airport utilization exceeds 80 percent. LaGuardia is scheduled at over 100 percent and has the worst dependability in the nation. 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."

FMI: www.aa.com