NEW YORK (CNN) - Delta Air Lines told CNN Tuesday that the airline is canceling certain flights if there are not enough passengers.

The cancellations mostly affect early and late night flights on days such as Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday when fewer travelers are flying.

Delta says before a flight is canceled, passengers must be easily accommodated with another flight shortly after the cancellation and that both legs of the journey must be considered "light loads." Passengers will be notified of the cancellations at least two days in advance.

Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly says the airline is not experiencing a fuel shortage; she says, instead, the cancellations are a temporary energy-saving reaction to refinery damage in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Of Delta's 4,500 domestic and international flights, Kelly says the cancellations affect "a few dozen" each day.

These cancellations are on top of a 15 percent domestic flight reduction plan announced in September, shortly after Delta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing high fuel prices as one of the reasons.

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