And on cue as it were re AA, their JFK flight this morning scheduled for 07.30 is not expected until 11.15. The BHX flight landed on time so presumably it wasn't a weather issue.
Sorry if it means a glass half empty, but surely AA will be taking a close look at JFK & PHL and whether a wide-body a/c is required on both routes, if indeed both can be justified. Yield and freight carried will of course be key factors.
In so far as seat maps on the morning of departure show some sort of picture, then based on the last few weeks, the take up of the 20 J class seats on PHL is noticeably better than is being achieved with the 28 new seats on JFK. In economy, however, PHL seems to have far more empty seats, which incidentally also applies to some of the LHR flights. I guess the mix of O&D as opposed to transfer pax will also be a factor.
On a brighter note, despite being down on May last year UA achieved a LF of 85% on EWR, and with an average load of 219, VS was 82% on ATL.
The ME3 all showed increases compared to May last year.
EK was up 4% with an average load of 338.
EY up 1% with an average of 223 pax
QR (now double daily) up 25% with an average of 175.
SV was 185 pax per flight.
With Easter boosting April traffic, average loads were quite a bit lower in May which is traditionally a quieter month for the ME3. As a/c type tends to vary with B777/A332 for EY, and the occasional A333 for QR, I've not tried to calculate LFs.
CX, despite less pax in May than April, still managed a LF of 80%.
Some strange variations on short haul too. In Scandinavia for example, pax to CPH and HEL decreased but the routes to Sweden and Norway were up.
AMS was boosted by the flybe flights.
Edit: I agree with the points made about likely leakage to BHX and NCL on account of their new flights to New York.