Unfriendly skies
3 major airlines ground nonstop routes from Austin airport
The airlines giveth and the airlines taketh away: Amid a large-scale ramp-up of nonstop flights at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, three airlines are actually scaling back service here.
As of this November, American Airlines will halt nonstop service between Austin and San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to a spokesperson for the Austin airport. American launched the route last October. No other airline flies nonstop between Austin and San Juan.
Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines is dropping its nonstop route between Austin and Boise, Idaho, effective September 30. Alaska launched the once-a-day flights in June 2021. Alaska offers the only nonstop service between the two cities.
Another airline, JetBlue Airways, is suspending — but not canceling — nonstop service between Austin and two major airports: Newark Liberty International Airport, outside New York City, and Los Angeles International Airport. The Newark service will be suspended from February to July 2023, while the Los Angeles suspension will last from February to May 2023, the airport spokesperson says.
Because the Newark and Los Angeles routes are being suspended and not dropped altogether, the Austin airport hopes the routes will return sometime next year, the spokesperson says. Several other airlines still provide nonstop flights from Austin to Newark and Los Angeles.
American, Alaska, and JetBlue are just three of many airlines that are trimming their schedules in response to labor shortages that have been aggravated by a surge in air travel following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, airline staffing troubles could extend into 2023, according to industry officials cited by the Axios news website. “There’s a supply-and-demand imbalance right now,” Robert Isom, CEO of Fort Worth-based American, said in June.
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