American Airlines has cancelled more than 1,900 flights over the weekend, the latest among many of cancellations by major airlines to disrupt travelers’ plans, as the industry struggles to steady itself a year and a half into the pandemic.
Wind gusts late last week triggered American’s problems, slowing arrival rates at the airline’s busy Dallas-Fort Worth hub, Chief Operating Officer David Seymour told employees in a memo Saturday. The cancellations snowballed, as pilots and flight attendants weren’t in the right places for flights.
“Our staffing begins to run tight, as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” he told them. On Sunday, American canceled more than 1,000 flights as of 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time—roughly 20% of its total operation and more than 36% of mainline flights.
Source: Wall Street Journal
