American joins United, others in suspending more NYC flights on coronavirus spike

American Airlines Group said late Sunday it would suspend more flights in and out of New York City’s three main airports for about a month, joining other airlines that have cut flights to the area following a spike in coronavirus cases. Between April 9 and May 6, American will operate a total of 13 daily flights from New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports and New Jersey’s Newark, it said, down from an average of 271 daily flights across all three airports in April 2019. David Seymour, American’s senior VP of Operations, told employees that demand for flights to the New York area “is rapidly evaporating” following an increase in COVID-19 cases and a recent advisory from the CDC warning against all non-essential travel to and from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. American said it will only operate flights between 10 a.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET as turn-only operations so that no aircraft or crews remain overnight at the airports, and so that fewer New York crew will be required on the ground.<br/>