United Airlines to end service at JFK Airport

United Airlines said it would temporarily stop flying in and out of Kennedy International Airport in New York at the end of October after struggling to gain a competitive foothold there. In a note to employees on Friday, the airline said it had had “constructive” conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration about expanding United’s presence at JFK, where flights are tightly regulated. The agency was committed to making improvements, but such changes would take time, United said. “Given our current, too-small-to-be-competitive schedule out of JFK — coupled with the start of the winter season, where more airlines will operate their slots as they resume JFK flying — United has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend service at JFK,” it said. The airline had formally restarted flights out of the airport last year after a five-year hiatus. United had offered service at JFK earlier in the pandemic by taking advantage of unused takeoff and landing authorizations, known as slots, that had been awarded to other airlines. But now that travel demand has recovered, those airlines have reclaimed those slots. The announcement comes amid a court trial in which American Airlines and JetBlue Airways are defending an alliance they formed in New York and Boston, which they argue is necessary to compete with the dominant airlines in those cities: United and Delta Air Lines. The Justice Department is suing to break up that partnership, arguing that it is anticompetitive.<br/>