Red, white and boooo.
Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled on Friday amid airline staff shortages and pilots protests, as experts warned of the July 4 weekend travel chaos.
More than 4,900 flight delays and nearly 500 cancellations, well above the daily average of 210 abandoned flights, were recorded nationwide through Friday evening, according to FlightAware Airlines.
At least 48 million people were expected to hit the road over the holiday weekend, including 3.5 million who plan to fly, as airlines struggled to keep up with the rising travel boom. of post-pandemic summer.
According to experts, the number of pilots and flight attendants available, along with very high fuel costs, which reached a national average of $ 4.84 a gallon on Friday, was expected to cause disruptions.
Airline industry experts warned of a possible “aerial machinations” as travelers prepared for the crisis at airports.
There were already more than 1,870 flight delays and 270 cancellations nationwide as of noon on Friday. Brigitte Stelzer
“There are many problems combined to create [delays]”Industry conclusion Robert Mann told the Guardian on Friday.” The bottom line is that we’re not producing as many pilots as we did in the 70s and 80s, when many were leaving service after Vietnam. ”
Delta Air Lines pilots, who say they have been hit by heavy workloads, picketed for higher wages outside airports across the country on Thursday as the airline canceled more than 400 flights this week.
The travel mess caused the company’s CEO, Ed Bastian, to release a mea culpa.
“If you have recently encountered delays and cancellations, I apologize,” Bastian wrote in a letter posted on his LinkedIn page. “We have spent years establishing Delta Air Lines as an industry leader in reliability, and while most of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable.”
Flight disruptions come amid rising demand for summer travel among Americans who have been locked up for a long time, who have suffered for years of vacation frustrated by COVID-19.
Airlines received $ 54 billion in relief funds during the pandemic, and federal officials, including Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have questioned why they appear ill-prepared for post-pandemic travel demand.
On Wednesday, Delta warned of “potentially difficult” flight interruptions due to an increase in passengers, saying it would allow customers to re-book their flights from July 1-4 without differences or fares.