American Airlines extends flight cuts into November

American Airlines says the flight cuts it made in response to operational problems will continue through Nov. 14.

AA first began reducing its flight schedule in mid-September, trimming capacity by 1-2% as it struggled with delays and cancellations that it blamed on a slowdown by pilots. The pilots union has steadfastly denied any concerted effort to gum up operations.

Regardless, American announced Thursday (Oct. 11) that it will extend a 1% capacity reduction through mid November.

"We are not yet back to the levels our customers deserve and expect from American," the carrier said Thursday in a memo to its mangers.

"So," AA continued in its memo, "we are extending our previously announced schedule reductions through the first half of November by approximately 1%. This will give us additional time to ensure the operation returns to a more normal pattern. This will not impact holiday travel for our customers."

Bloomberg News reports the cuts will run through Nov. 14.

However, the airline said it was "encouraged" by an uptick in performance in recent weeks. Among the improvements cited in American's memo were a 27% drop in cancellations and a 16% improvement in on-time rates "from September through Oct. 9."

Indeed, industry observers generally seem to agree that AA's operations are improving – at least somewhat.

The Associated Press writes "although American has boosted its on-time arrivals from September's 59% mark, flight-tracking service FlightStats.com says American still trailed other large U.S. airlines in delays on Wednesday."

As for AA's extension of flight cuts, at least one consultant wondered out loud if weak demand may also be at play.

"There is undoubtedly less demand for travel in recent weeks that we've seen," Robert Mann says to Reuters. "That would suggest that a risk-averse strategy would simply be to fly less."