United Airlines will suspend its service at John F. Kennedy International Airport by October unless the airline is given more flight slots.
United CEO Scott Kirby shared the airline’s plan in a memo to employees on Sept. 6, as reported by Reuters, urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase flight capacity at the airport.
The airline currently operates four daily flights at JFK heading to Los Angeles and San Fransisco. The airline leased 25 of its permanent slots to Delta Airlines when it temporarily left JFK in 2015. United returned to the airport in 2021, but can’t reclaim the gates Delta uses.
United’s main airport in the New York area is Newark Liberty International Airport, where it operates 69 percent of all flights at Newark Liberty International Airport.
According to Kirby’s memo, without more slots at JFK, United will be unable to compete with airways like JetBlue and American Airlines.
The allotment of future capacity at JFK “would follow the FAA’s well-established process of awarding them fairly and to increase competition,” the FAA said in a statement.