LONDON – According to data from RadarBox.com, New York’s JFK has experienced a 44% uplift in airport movements compared to the same period last year.

With slots filling up month-on-month, the airport has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels, which we will dive into further shortly.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the numbers…

The Numbers…

For October 15-22, the airport handled around 1,272 movements based on a seven-day rolling average that the flight tracking company provides.

This represents a 44.87% increase compared to the same period last year and is nearly 100 movements better than the same period in 2019, which is known as the pre-pandemic era.

Below is a list of the last four weeks’ worth of data:

From what we can see in that data is that the growth rate has been in the low to mid-40s on the percentage front, which is a consistent pattern of exponential growth.

In all five weeks, we have displayed, you can also see that JFK has exceeded pre-pandemic movement rolling averages, which does show that the airport is on its way up once again.

Allocation of Slots is an Issue…

One thing that JFK has been struggling with recently is the allocation of slots, with United Airlines due to pulling out of the airport in late October as a result of this.

The confirmation follows from the airline’s earlier disclosure that it was considering pulling out from JFK due to the allocation of slots to other rival carriers.

“Given our current, too-small-to-be-competitive schedule out of JFK, coupled with the start of the winter season where more airlines will operate their slots as they resume JFK flying — United has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend service at JFK,” the airline stated in a memorandum dated 30 September.

The United statement went on to refer to their recent communications with the FAA, saying: “Earlier this month, we shared an update about our efforts to advocate for additional slots that would allow us to grow the station, as well as our ask of the FAA to update its assessment of JFK’s overall capacity…”

“Our discussions with FAA have been constructive. It’s clear they are serious about operational improvements in the NY/NJ region, including JFK and EWR, which is important for all our customers.”

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby had recently sent a letter to FAA administrator Billy Nolen, urging him to increase capacity at JFK. Kirby pointed to the fact that several major infrastructure upgrades had taken place over the last 14 years, warranting the consideration of increased slot capacity.

Improvements such as runway widening, multi-entry taxiways, and high-speed runway turnoffs were cited for making United’s case for the FAA’s consideration of a capacity increase.

The decision to withdraw services in late October will impact airline staff based at JFK airport. United’s statement goes on to say: “We know this news is especially tough for the 100 employees who work at JFK today.”

“We held a series of in-person meetings earlier today to ensure our team knows that no one is losing their job and that we’re going to work hard to make their transition to other nearby stations as smooth as possible.”

Either way, JFK has been reporting strong numbers, but it will be interesting to see whether the United withdrawal will have an effect on the number or not.

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