The good news is that scheduled flights at Philadelphia International Airport for the fourth quarter are up 73.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter a year ago.

But the delta variant of the coronavirus is generating less air travel bookings ahead, writes Ty West and Ryan Sharrow for Philadelphia Business Journal.

That’s causing airlines to cut back on flights. At PHL, fourth quarter flight schedules have been cut by 12.2 percent.

Between Aug. 3 and Aug. 30, scheduled domestic flight operations nationwide have fallen nearly 6.4 percent.

At PHL, fourth quarter scheduled flights have been cut by 12.2 percent.

It was projected there would be 36,307 flights between October and December. As of last week, that projection was dropped to 31,871.

Earlier in the year, airlines were actually boosting capacity and reopening routes as vaccination rates climbed.

The decline in Philadelphia is “not surprising considering recent COVID trends and the normal decline in passenger demand heading into winter,” said Stephanie P. Wear, director of air service development and cargo services at PHL.

Wear did point out that PHL does have new nonstop routes and routes reopening between September and November.

Read more at Philadelphia Business Journal about the impact of the delta variant on airlines.

CNBC looks at the impact of the delta variant on the airline industry.

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