United Airlines says it will halt its flights from JFK Airport on October 29th, saying its schedule at the airport is too miniscule to remain competitive in the market.

The airline said the “difficult decision” was reached in part due to more airlines resuming flying to and from JFK in the winter season.

“The significance of JFK to our operation hasn’t changed — we think New York customers deserve more choices, and robust United service to JFK is good for our customers, our employees and our airline,” United said in a letter to CNN. “As a result, we will continue our pursuit of a bigger and more desirable schedule for our customers and be ready to seize those opportunities if and when they surface.”

United has been urging the FAA to provide it more of the highly coveted takeoff and landing spots at JFK and advocating for the agency to update its assessment of the airport’s capacity, saying that talks with the FAA have thus far been “constructive.”

Those updated assessments, however, will take time and United is thus halting flight at JFK, at least temporarily.

“The FAA is dedicated to doing its part to safely expand New York City airports and airspace capacity” the agency said in a statement. “We will follow our fair and well-established process to award future slots to increase competition between airlines so passengers have more options.”

United had threatened to stop its service from JFK if the FAA didn’t give it additional slots, less than two years after a 5-year hiatus from service at the airport.

The airline says that its 100 employees who work at JFK will not lose their jobs and will simply be transferred to other nearby locations, and that it is “working with customers” who have flights booked with them from JFK scheduled for after October 29.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)