THAT JUST WON’T FLY
Staff shortages force American to cancel flights
People excited to travel again could face some major headaches this summer as a major airline is canceling flights because of staff shortages amid a surge in travel demand.
American Airlines is slashing about 72 daily flights through mid-July, and on Monday “proactively” canceled one flight from Boston Logan International Airport.
These cuts come as the number of daily U.S. airline travelers is hitting some of the highest levels since last March amid the coronavirus vaccine rollout and as more people feel comfortable with traveling again.
In addition to staff shortages, American Airlines cited “unprecedented weather to our largest hubs” during the first half of June — causing delays, canceled flights and disruptions to crew member schedules.
“That, combined with the labor shortages some of our vendors are contending with and the incredibly quick ramp up of customer demand, has led us to build in additional resilience and certainty to our operation by adjusting a fraction of our scheduled flying through mid-July,” the airline said in a statement.
“We made targeted changes with the goal of impacting the fewest number of customers by adjusting flights in markets where we have multiple options for re-accommodation,” the airline added.
The shelved flights account for about 1% of American Airlines’ daily operation through the first half of July — or roughly 72 of 5,674 average daily departures.
The one canceled flight out of Boston was out of a total schedule of 64 daily departures.
“Our focus this summer — and always — is on delivering for our customers no matter the circumstance,” the airline said. “We never want to disappoint and feel these schedule adjustments will help ensure we can take good care of our customers and team members and minimize surprises at the airport.”
Last week, the Transportation Security Administration surpassed the 2 million threshold for travelers screened in one day. It marked the first time that more than 2 million people were screened since March 2020.
This milestone represents 74% of travel volume versus the same day in 2019, and 1.5 million more travelers than the same day last year.
Sunday’s 2.1 million U.S. travelers was the highest of the year. Also, the 183,157 people screened this past weekend at New England’s six major airports was the most this year.
“The Transportation Security Administration is well-positioned to meet rising traveler volumes at BOS and throughout the nation,” a TSA spokesperson for the New England region said. “As in years past, the agency began a concerted recruitment effort this past winter in anticipation of increasing volumes and is on pace with established benchmarks to meet hiring goals.”