At the end of October, United Airlines will stop flying in and out of Kennedy International Airport in New York due to its inability to gain a foothold there.
In a note to employees on Friday, the airline said it had had constructive conversations with the FAA about expanding its presence at J.F.K. United said that the changes would take time.
Due to our current, too-small-to-be-competitive schedule out of J.F.K. and the start of the winter season where more airlines will operate their slots, United has made the difficult decision to temporarily.
Last year, the airline resumed flights out of the airport. United was the first airline to offer service at J.F.K. by taking advantage of slots that had been awarded to other airlines. Those airlines have regained those slots now that travel demand is back.
In New York and Boston, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways formed an alliance that they argue is necessary to compete with United and Delta Air Lines. The partnership is being sued by the Justice Department.
There were warnings weeks ago that United might leave J.F.K. The airline said that all of its J.F.K. workers are being relocated. The Newark Liberty International Airport is a United hub.
In the year ending in September, United operated less than 3000 flights in and out of J.F.K., accounting for less than 1% of airport traffic. About 70 percent of Newark's traffic was accounted for by United, which operated about 266,000 flights over the same period.
The F.A.A. said in a statement that it was working to accommodate more flight capacity at airports.
Future slots will be awarded to increase competition between airlines so passengers have more options. The J.F.K. staff will be relocated to other New York City airports.
The decision to leave J.F.K. is a short-term one. The last flights into the airport will take place on October 29th.
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