CHARLOTTE — Many airlines are seeing softer bookings in the months ahead because of the Delta variant.
That’s one factor leading airlines to scale back the number of flights scheduled for the latter portion of the year, according to a review of flight data by The Business Journals.
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The data from Cirium, a provider of aviation and travel data analytics, shows total scheduled domestic flight operations for the fourth quarter fell nearly 6.4% between Aug. 3 and Aug. 30.
It’s a marked difference from earlier in the year, when many airlines were boosting capacity and relaunching routes as vaccination rates climbed and Covid-19 cases were on the decline. It’s worth noting that Covid-19 and the Delta variant are just one factor affecting airlines amid a choppy recovery from Covid-19. Other factors, such as labor and staffing, also affect scheduling plans.
But the data shows airlines are clearly tweaking their schedules for the fourth quarter.
For Charlotte Douglas International Airport, that means nearly 4,200 domestic flights were dropped for the fourth quarter over the course of August. Scheduled fourth-quarter flights between Aug. 3-30 fell from 66,925 to 62,742, a 6.3% decrease.
That put CLT near the middle of the 50-busiest American airports in terms of drop in flights for that time period, on a percentage basis. Raleigh-Durham International Airport had the steepest decline percentage wise, as its scheduled flights for the fourth quarter decreased 14% — from 16,689 to 14,279.
Read the full story here.
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