American Airlines had a weekend to forget, with bad weather and staffing shortages forcing the airline to cancel over 2,000 flights so far between Friday the 29th and Monday the 1st.
In total, AA canceled 2,342 of their 21,714 scheduled flights over this four-day period. Sunday was the most heavily affected day, with a total of 1,060 cancellations, or just over 20 percent of their scheduled flights.
In a statement released by AA's COO David Seymour on Saturday, two days of heavy winds across the DFW metroplex, including up to 50 mph gusts on Thursday created; "crosswind limitations that sharply reduced arrival capacity by more than half." Combine this with the fact that only two runways at DFW Airport were in use, and this forced the airline to streamline operations.
The statement goes on to say that some staffing shortages were a result of crew members being forced out of their usual flight sequences due to the cancellations. As a result, they say their decision to "proactively cancel" flights was in order to take; "care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews."
"We are taking this measure to minimize any inconvenience as much as possible. Most of the customers impacted by these changes are being rebooked the same day, and we apologize for having to make these changes."
Other staffing shortages were down to the fact that nearly 1,800 flight attendants were on leave up until Monday, with further not set to return until December 1st. The statement goes on to say that the airline plans to have; "600+ new hire flight attendants on property by end of December," with a total of 4,000 new employees anticipated to be brought in by the end of the fourth quarter.
With the hiring processes currently in operation, the airline hopes to well prepared for the holiday season.
One note worth considering, as reported by KRLD over the weekend - Some on social media did suggest the staffing shortages were related to pending federal vaccination mandates but the airline has insisted that has nothing to do with it. But some industry analysts believe the airlines bear some responsibility because they all over-schedule so there is no margin for error when outside issues crop up.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD