Delta To Operate Over 50 Daily Flights From New York-Area

***UPDATE: 04/06/2020 @ 20:07UTC – Added details from Delta***

In recent days, airlines have announced major drawdowns of flight schedules to and from New York City. Delta Air Lines is the next major carrier to slash flights out of the area. However, while other carriers have dropped into the teens in terms of the number of daily departures, Delta will continue to offer over 50 daily flights out of New York City-area airports or 328 weekly departures starting from April 12th.

Delta planes at JFK — Delta Air Lines will fly over 50 daily flights out of New York City. Photo: Getty Images

New York-area operations

This week will see the start of scheduling cuts across major US airlines in New York. From the week of April 12th, Delta will offer only 328 weekly departures from the four New York City-area airports. According to data from Routesonline, for the week of March 15th, Delta filed 3,013 weekly departures. This represents a scheduling cut of nearly 90%.

Delta A220 — Delta is cutting almost 90% of flight schedules out of New York. Photo: Getty Images

There are two hubs for the carrier in New York City. For international operations and premium transcontinental services, Delta relies on John F. Kennedy International Airport. In fact, just a few months ago, the airline launched an ambitious long-haul international service to Mumbai. However, for domestic and regional flights, LaGuardia fills that service for Delta.

Compared to scheduling data from last month, Delta is reducing New York-JFK flight schedules from 1183 weekly flights (~169 daily departures) to 189 weekly flights (~27 daily departures) to hubs and top markets– including essential services to upstate New York per the carrier. In addition, Delta will also fly two daily flights to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Delta 767 — Delta’s focus out of New York will be to hubs and essential markets. Photo: Getty Images

From LaGuardia, Delta will go from 1598 weekly flights (~228-229 daily departures) to 105 weekly flights (15 daily departures).

Delta To Operate Over 50 Daily Flights From New York-Area — Delta will only fly to five destinations from LaGuardia. Rendering created at Great Circle Mapper

From Stewart International Airport, there will only be seven weekly flights to Delta’s hubs in Detroit compared to the traditional 14 weekly. Meanwhile, from Newark, Delta is offering 49 weekly flights compared to the traditional 218 weekly. From Newark, flights will operate to Atlanta, Detroit, and Minneapolis. Newark Liberty International Airport is a major hub for competitor United Airlines.

Delta CRJ900 — Some flights will operate using regional jets under the Delta Connection brand. Photo: Getty Images

Some of these flights will be operated using regional jets under the Delta Connection brand.

A major schedule reduction

Going from over 3,000 weekly departures to just over 300 weekly departures is a major cut on Delta’s part. New York City is a heavily-hit area when it comes to COVID-19. As a result, business and leisure travelers are staying away. These last few flights will continue to offer important cargo links and offer some passengers the chance to travel home to perhaps take care of loved ones or else support them through this tough time.

Delta New York — This reduction will see a significant cut in hub operations out of New York for Delta. Photo: Delta Air Lines

Now is definitely not the time for leisure travel. For now, staying home is the mantra to help contain the spread of this virus. Most carriers continue to cut down operations in New York. However, Delta is operating more flights than either American or United.

What do you make about Delta’s schedule cuts out of New York City? Will these few air links prove crucial to you? Let us know in the comments!

Scheduling data came from Routesonline and the source is linked above.