“We expect significant movement in November and December capacity to be adjusted lower in the coming weeks,” Helane Becker, an aviation analyst at Cowen investment bank, wrote in a memo on Tuesday. Carriers like United, JetBlue, Alaska, and Delta are taking “a more aggressive approach by reducing capacity early to limit cash burn,” Becker said.
But some airlines, including Southwest, American, and Spirit, are making such adjustments closer to the day of travel, Becker says. Southwest, for instance, has been combining flights and adding layovers to numerous routes during the holiday season.
“We recently adjusted our flight schedule for November and December to reflect the demand we’re seeing for travel, a process we’ve been continually undertaking throughout this year,” a Southwest spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We’ve worked hard to keep service in all of our cities and to provide flights that are in highest demand. We realize that