American Airlines Cancels 460 Flights Saturday Amid Bad Weather
American Airlines Cancels 460 Flights Saturday Amid Bad Weather
(Bloomberg) -- American Airlines Group Inc. canceled 460 flights Saturday after weather conditions affected its staffing needs.
The cancellations made up 9% of its mainline and regional flights, it said. With two days of severe weather at its Dallas-Fort Worth hub, its arrival capacity was cut by more than half, it said. The weather conditions also meant it could use just two runways instead of five, it added.
“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” American said in an emailed statement, adding that “these few days to close out October will be challenging” where it “proactively” canceled some flights to adjust to the staffing shortfall.
Most customers affected were rebooked on the same day, it added. The Wall Street Journal reported the cancellations earlier.
Air travel is picking up fast following more than a year of Covid-19 restrictions. Airline passenger numbers in the U.S. totaled 1.93 million on Thursday, more than twice the 873,636 figure on the same weekday a year earlier, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Earlier in the week, the Biden administration issued new rules for travelers to the U.S., requiring proof of full vaccination against Covid-19 in addition to a recent negative test for the virus. The move taking effect Nov. 8 represent the biggest change to U.S. travel policy since the start of the pandemic.
FlightAware data showed American canceled 487 flights over the weekend, close to a fifth of its trips. An additional 299 were delayed.
Globally, China Eastern Airlines Corp. had the most number of cancellations over the weekend -- 525 of its flights, according to FlightAware. The flight tracker’s data showed Southwest Airlines Co. had the highest number of delays at 546.
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