PEOPLExpress ‘temporarily suspending service,’ including Newark routes

PEOPLExpress, which resumed flights into Newark Liberty International Airport on July 1, announced Friday it was “temporarily suspending service effective immediately.”This incarnation of the no-frills airline, which took on the name of a former no-frills flier based in Newark, said in a news release it plans to resume service “on or about Oct. 16.”

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The airline, which is now based in Newport News, Virginia, cited a variety of factors for the suspension:

“Recent aircraft and crew availability and maintenance issues, including an aircraft recently damaged by a vendor’s truck, an engine change and a lack of a planned spare aircraft, have made it challenging to operate a full schedule, preventing us from delivering the passenger experience we are striving for.”

The airline added that, “We are still committed to restoring the concepts of respect, value and excitement to the air travel experience, but to do so successfully we need to enhance our platform to operate aircraft not just safely but also with the ability to provide consistently outstanding schedule integrity.”

PEOPLExpress said it is processing refunds for passengers on flights booked through Oct. 15, and will notify those booked after Oct. 15 when service will resume.

“Not being able to complete all of our scheduled flights has been inconsistent with our brand promise to provide a fun, creative and innovative approach to air travel,” PEOPLExpress said. “This difficult business decision affects thousands of loyal customers, and we apologize for the sudden nature of our temporary suspension and thank people for their understanding and support.”

The airline, which said it has served 55,000 passengers on 817 flights since restarting, said it still intends to launch expanded service to Orlando, Florida, and Charleston, West Virginia, starting Oct. 16. Its current routes include Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Petersburg/Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida.

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