Flights Being Cancelled By The Hundreds
Many travelers' Memorial Day plans were thwarted after hundreds upon hundreds of flight cancellations occurred nationwide.
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in the United States. And with society climbing out of a years-long pandemic-inflicted malaise, it’s no wonder that many Americans are eager to kick off the summer season with a well-deserved and long-awaited vacation. However many are encountering unforeseen obstacles as they attempt to get to their intended destinations. These obstacles are coming in the form of canceled flights. At present, over 10,000 flights have been canceled nationwide, hundreds upon hundreds of these flight cancellations occurred in the United States alone.
FlightAware, which is a service that tracks the number of flights being canceled across the globe, revealed the staggering (and perhaps disheartening) statistics. CNN reported that Delta is an airline that has seen some of the most significant flight cancellations. Since Friday, Delta Airlines has had to cancel upwards of 500 domestic and international flights. However, Delta isn’t the only domestic airline canceling flights at record rates. American Airlines also saw widespread cancellations, with over 100 occurring on Monday alone. Jet Blue and Alaska airlines have also not been immune to flight cancellations.
The mitigating circumstances behind the rampant flight cancellations are multi-factored. First, and perhaps foremost, the airline industry as a whole is suffering from severe pilot shortages. Prior to the pandemic qualified commercial pilots were hard to come by. The pandemic only served to further exacerbate that gap. Hence, with air travel resuming to healthier pre-pandemic levels, the airlines are simply not equipped to handle the growing surge of travelers.
Furthermore, not only are airlines short pilots, but they are just short-staffed in general. An airport needs all of its parts to function appropriately and to get people on flights and up in the air. Few staff and even fewer pilots mean that the airports aren’t functioning at optimum efficiency. Flight cancellations are simply an inevitable side-effect of that. To make matters even worse, employees are still getting sick from Covid and are needing to stay home for an extended amount of time to recover. This means that even less people who are on staff are working at any given time.
Adding to the already perfect recipe of the widespread flight cancellations this past Memorial Day was a factor out of everyone’s control – the weather. Delta’s Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband referred to that as one of the reasons that contributed to Delta’s wide breadth of flight cancellations over the memorial holiday. In an effort to operate with some level of efficiency throughout the summer travel season, many airlines are slashing their schedules to better sync with pilot availability. Unfortunately, while that may be better for the airlines overall, the issue then becomes meeting the demand. Fewer flights available and more travelers wanting to fly sets the stage for plane ticket prices to soar through the stratosphere. With prices already at an all-time high thanks to record-breaking inflation, it’s frightening to imagine how expensive plane ticket prices will become as the United States inches further into the summer season.
