34265 pax used NY area routes last July. This coming July total seats available will only be 15686...
Far from plenty of room, that sounds like under capacity to me... even allowing for some transfer pax shift to other hubs, as D8 was pure O&D and AA's JFK hub was pretty weak for connections anyway.
I do think the market was getting crowded and some right sizing was needed, but I believe it's gone too far the other way now. I think once IAD has bedded in UA will look to upgrade EWR to widebody equipment in line with all their other year round EWR routes, as I believe EDI could well be the last remaining year round B752 route out of EWR now.