United may cut Newark flights as it seeks more gates to stem delays

United Airlines Holdings Inc. will have to change, and possibly reduce, its flight schedule at Newark Liberty International Airport while work is under way to expand the number of gates for the carrier, Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said in a letter to employees.

The letter on Saturday followed days of extensive flight disruptions as airlines across the US dealt with severe weather and operational challenges ahead of Independence Day. Newark, which is United’s largest hub, was one of the hardest hit, with thousands of flights delayed and canceled this week. 

The Chicago-based carrier “has never seen an extended limited operating environment like the one we saw this past week at Newark,” Kirby wrote.  

The days of heavy travel leading to July 4 will test whether airports have made sufficient changes after staffing shortages strained flight schedules last year. More than 4 million Americans are expected to fly over Independence Day weekend — a record for air travel over the holiday — surpassing 2019 by 6.6%, according to AAA, which tracks travel habits. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cited federal data showing low cancellation rates even as the number of airline passengers reached a record on Friday. “Right now we’re below 2%,” he said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation.

“We had a hard two days with severe weather at the beginning of the week and that definitely put enormous pressure on the system,” Buttigieg said. While there have been some travel improvements in the latter half of the week, “clearly there remains more work to be done.” 

Kirby, in his letter to employees, said he spoke with the Federal Aviation Administration and Buttigieg about challenges the airline faces, including FAA staffing shortages. The carrier, alongside JetBlue Airways Corp., had previously claimed the FAA is partly responsible for the hiccups around some of the busiest airports, including New York and Denver, this past week.

The FAA plans to hire 1,500 air traffic controllers this year, as well as 1,800 next year as staffing challenges persist. Still, a government accountability agency found that the FAA has “made limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing” at critical facilities. The staffing shortage “poses a risk to the continuity of air traffic operations,” according to a report from the DOT Inspector General in June. 

United must “balance departures and arrivals” at Newark to prevent lines and gridlock that occur due to insufficient aircraft space, he said. The company will also transition to self-service, online crew scheduling, he said. 

Kirby has faced backlash for taking a private jet to Denver from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport on Wednesday as the airline’s customers dealt with remarkable flight disruptions. The CEO called the decision to fly private “wrong” and insensitive to customers.