American Airlines is the latest airline to suspend most of its flights to and from the New York City area as travel demand to the nation's pandemic epicenter dramatically slows down.
The company announced that as of Thursday, it would only be servicing 13 daily flights to the New York City area's LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports until May 6. That's a sharp decline compared to its usual average of 271 flights a day to that area.
American Airlines' Senior Vice President David Seymour said the decision was forced by CDC travel guidelines and because flight demand was "rapidly evaporating".
Over the weekend, American Airlines' busiest flight to New York only had 27 passengers. Other airlines, like United, Spirit and Jet Blue, have also cut the number of flights to the New York metro area.
American Airlines said it will operate its reduced flights from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, so crew members won't have to stay at the airports overnight.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the Newark airport's location. This version has been updated.
