Airlines struggling to staff their planes canceled hundreds of U.S. flights on Saturday at the start of a long and almost certainly chaotic holiday travel weekend.
By the afternoon, as Americans prepared for the Fourth of July celebrations, more than 600 flights within, to or from the United States had been canceled and more than 3,300 were delayed, according to flight tracking service flightaware.com.
Friday’s numbers were also grim, with 587 US flights canceled out of a total of 3,061 cancellations worldwide, the site said. Sunday also looked problematic as more than 100 flights had already been cancelled.
The chaos at the airport is prompting record levels of road travel by Americans trying to avoid flight problems, a travel industry group has said.
For days, amid a summer travel tide, horror stories abound as travelers were stranded at airports and endured odysseys to reach their destination.
The airline industry was devastated in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic as people stayed close to home, but air travel has recovered as health measures have eased.
And although federal Covid-19 aid saved airlines from laying off employees, tens of thousands of workers left the industry after airlines pushed for early retirement.
Today’s industry has about 15 percent fewer staff compared to pre-pandemic times to handle about 90 percent of pre-2020 passenger traffic, analysts at consultancy Third Bridge estimated.
– “Pilots get tired” –
The travel chaos has come under scrutiny from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and others in Washington.
On Saturday, Buttigieg tweeted a series of tips on what to do if your flight is canceled, such as whether to accept travel points or miles as compensation, or ask for a cash refund.
“You can often negotiate about that. It’s between you and the airline,” Buttigieg wrote.
The travel season is in full swing. On Friday, 2,490,490 people were screened at airport checkpoints nationwide, the most since February 2020 just before the US’s Covid shutdown, the Transportation Security Administration said.
“We’re back to pre-pandemic checkpoint volume,” the TSA tweeted.
Delta pilots went to information pickets at several airports on Thursday to demand a new contract and complain about overhauls, among other things.
“Frankly, it’s irresponsible planning, over-planning. After the pandemic, we are planning more flights than we have people to fly them,” Jason Ambrosi, union leader of the Delta Pilots’ Association, told CNN on Saturday.
“The pilots are honestly getting tired,” said Ambrosi.
They don’t want to leave travelers or crew stranded, he added, “but it’s a safety issue.”
Pilot shortages are the most acute problem in a broader airline industry labor shortage, said Peter McNally, an analyst at Third Bridge.
“There is no short-term fix,” McNally told AFP. “The problem is most evident during these seasonal peaks.”
Airlines say they are working to address the situation, hiring pilots and other staff and cutting summer seating capacity by 15 percent.
While acknowledging the pilot shortage, aviation industry officials point to other complicating factors including turbulent weather, increased staff absences due to Covid and insufficient air traffic control staff at some sites.
For the Independence Day long weekend, a record-breaking 42 million Americans will also travel at least 50 miles from home by road, despite rising gasoline prices, the American Automobile Association said.
The travel issues affecting the airline industry could fuel heavy road traffic, she noted.
“Travelling by car offers a level of convenience and flexibility that people are looking for in the face of recent flying challenges,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel.
#Hundreds #flights #canceled #kicks #long #bank #holiday #weekend
