JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) will proactively curtail its operations in the New York metro area ahead of the peak summer 2023 season to avoid a repeat of last year's disruptions caused by a shortage of air traffic control (ATC) staff, Chief Executive Robin Hayes told CNBC.

"We don't want to pull down flights. I'm sure no airline wants to pull down flights. But if we don't cut them, the system is not going to be workable this summer," Hayes said.

Hayes did not disclose the exact scale of the cutbacks but conceded that they would have a "very significant financial impact" on the airline. He emphasised that JetBlue has the pilots, cabin crew, aircraft, and infrastructure to operate the flights but is being held back by the ATC staffing shortage alone.

Recently, the US Federal Aviation Administration allowed airlines to return up to 10% of their slots at New York and Washington metro airports due to the shortage of controllers. Carriers have until April 30 to apply for the waiver, which will be in place between May 15 and September 15, 2023. Hayes said JetBlue had not applied for the waiver as yet but planned to do so before the deadline.

The New York capacity crunch has affected JetBlue in particular due to its focus on the city. The ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Operator Capacity Data module shows that 19.07% of the airline's scheduled weekly departure capacity is from New York JFK, with New York La Guardia responsible for 4.36% and New York Newark for 2.52%. The airline is practically tied with Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) in terms of capacity scheduled from JFK (Delta proffers 211,467 weekly departure seats to JetBlue's 206,691), although the latter has a much more dispersed network.

A combination of ATC capacity constraints, aggressive scheduling, and weather caused nearly half of the airline's flights in April 2022 to be disrupted. The operational meltdown cost the airline 6 percentage points of its pre-tax margin in the second quarter of 2022.