American Airlines to discontinue daily flight between New York JFK and London Stansted

American Airlines today announced that it will discontinue service between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London’s Stansted Airport, effective July 2. The service was launched less than a year ago in October 2007.

American Airlines will continue to offer its full schedule of flights between JFK and London’s Heathrow Airport.

As part of the airline’s previously announced plans to reduce capacity in an effort to significantly reduce costs and create a more sustainable supply-and-demand balance in the marketplace, this decision is among a number of first-round reductions to American’s flight schedule and come in the face of skyrocketing fuel prices and a softening economy.

Starting next week, customers impacted by the schedule changes will be contacted and re-accommodated on alternative flights.

AMR will continue to make additional schedule reductions in other markets and will assess the location- and route-specific impacts of those changes. This will be done to achieve plans to reduce AMR’s fourth quarter mainline domestic capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent compared to 2007 levels and its fourth quarter regional affiliate capacity by 10 percent to 11 percent compared to 2007. Fourth quarter consolidated system capacity is expected to decline 7 percent to 8 percent year over year, including capacity reductions that were announced earlier this year.

To effect these changes, AMR plans to retire 40-45 mainline aircraft (mostly MD-80s and some Airbus A300s) and 35-40 regional jets. In an effort to significantly reduce costs, American Eagle also will retire its Saab fleet by the end of the year.