United Continental Holdings plans to reduce capacity in a bid to offset the rise in oil prices following Middle East unrest.
The parent company to United Airlines and Continental Airlines said capacity will initially be reduced by 1% in May followed by 4% in September.
While exact details have not yet been released, United Continental said flight frequencies on a number of existing routes will be cut and the launch of some new routes will be postponed “indefinitely”.
Less profitable routes will also be scrapped and less fuel-efficient aircraft may be removed from the fleet.
With the changes, United Continental expects its full-year 2011 consolidated capacity to be roughly flat year-on-year. It had previously envisaged a rise of up to 2%.
Domestic capacity will be hardest hit, however, with an expected fall of up to 2.5% year-on-year, while international capacity will rise by up to 3.5%.