NEW YORK (AP) – Airlines are not only facing a clash of stickers this Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer travel season. They are also dealing with a lot of flight cancellations.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled at 9:50 p.m. EDT on Saturday, according to the FlightAware flight tracking website. That followed after more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.
Delta Air Lines suffered the most among US airlines, with more than 250 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated on Saturday. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, home to Delta and its largest center, was severely delayed in travel. On Saturday, 5% of flights there were canceled, while 16% were delayed.
Delta said in an email to The Associated Press that Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” and said it was trying to cancel flights by at least 24 hours. in advance this Memorial Day weekend.
Delta announced on its website on Thursday that from July 1 to August 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, mainly to parts of the United States and Latin America that Delta serves frequently.
“More than at any time in our history, the various factors that currently affect our operation: the climate and air traffic control, the sales staff, the increase in COVID case rates that contribute to absences not higher than expected in some working groups, they are leading to an operation that does not live up to the standards that Delta has set for the industry in recent years, “said the director of customer experience of Delta, Allison Ausband, in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations anticipate monstrous crowds this summer as travel restrictions are eased and pandemic fatigue outweighs the lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 while traveling.
Many forecasters believe that the number of passengers will equal or even exceed the levels in the days before the pandemic. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than in 2019, and this has sometimes contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing the shock of the sticker.
Domestic air fares for the summer exceed $ 400 round trip, 24% more than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and 45% higher than a year ago, according to the data firm Hopper Travel.
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AP Airlines writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.