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American Airlines canceled nearly 850 domestic and international flights on Sunday, citing a shortage of staff and unfavorable weather, bringing total cancellations to 1,739 and counting from Friday.
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A spokeswoman for American, the world’s largest airline, said the company had canceled 848 flights as of 3:00 pm EST (1900 GMT) on Sunday, more than 16% of its total. That follows 548 trips canceled by American on Saturday and 343 on Friday. Sunday’s figure could change as the day progresses.
In a letter to employees Saturday, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said high winds at Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport cut arrival capacity by more than half. Additional inclement weather means that “our personnel begin to become scarce as crew members wind up outside of their regular flight sequences,” the letter read.
Airlines have been short-staffed due to the coronavirus pandemic that dramatically reduced the demand for air travel. As normal life resumes, many are improving.
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In Saturday’s letter, American said nearly 1,800 flight attendants will return from license as of Monday, while more than 600 newly hired flight attendants will be on board by the end of the year.
The airline had offered voluntary leave to some employees to help weather the pandemic. It also laid off 17,500 employees, although those people have now returned to work, a company spokeswoman told Reuters on Sunday.
Southwest Airlines Co has also said it is hiring aggressively, aiming to add 5,000 new workers by the end of 2021.
Earlier this month, Southwest canceled nearly 2,400 flights over a three-day period, blaming bad weather and air traffic problems in Florida.
Reference-torontosun.com