5 things: they cancel more than 1,550 flights in the US in the weekend 2:34
New York (CNN Business) --
Flights at airports across the United States appear to be back to normal Monday after another difficult holiday weekend for passengers, caused by a string of canceled flights.
The FlightAware tracking service showed some 2,000 flights to, from or within the United States canceled between Thursday and Sunday, or 2% of scheduled flights.
A maximum of 657 canceled flights was reached on Saturday.
Bad weather played a role again, but staff shortages across the airline industry also contributed to the problem.
Airlines don't have the staff, especially pilots, to adjust when bad weather causes delays.
But the good news is that FlightAware data for Monday morning showed just 177 canceled flights as of mid-morning, less than 1% of the itinerary.
How is the 4th of July celebrated in the US?
This is the third consecutive holiday weekend in which there has been a spike in canceled flights, as airlines struggle to manage demand for flights with limited crews.
About 3% of flights scheduled for the Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend were cancelled, and about 4% of flights during the Thursday through Monday period around Memorial Day weekend. Father and Emancipation Day (Juneteenth).
In 2019, before the pandemic, canceled flights used to be no more than 1% of the itinerary, even during holiday weekends.
And when bad weather caused a spike in canceled flights, as happened on Saturday, July 6 of that year, operations returned to normal much more quickly.
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But it's not just the holidays that cause problems.
Cancellations over the July 4 weekend were down from the previous week, when daily cancellations ranged from 2.5% to 3.6% of the schedule.
Who to blame for the chaos of airline cancellations
Cancellations are becoming the norm because of the staffing situation, said Kathleen Bangs, a former airline pilot who now works for FlightAware.
"The weather has always affected aviation, but so far this summer the weather hasn't been worse than normal," he said.
"When we see severe weather, airlines take longer to recover. They don't have a large number of pilots to call. It really seems to be a system-wide staffing issue, going all the way to the FAA in terms of the air traffic control".
To deal with staffing shortages, US airlines are also cutting back on their summer schedule, despite strong travel demand.
But that combination of strong demand and limited supply of seats does nothing more than raise the average price of air fares to levels higher than what passengers paid before the pandemic.
The median fare paid by leisure travelers is up nearly 50% from a year ago, according to the latest data compiled by Wall Street firm Cowen.
Travelers face uncertainty on US flights 0:43
Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said airlines aren't doing enough to hire the additional staff they need, from front-line workers like pilots, mechanics and flight attendants, to support staff, including those in charge of programming.
"Crews are waiting one, two, three, four hours to get in touch with a scheduler," Nelson told CNN's Christine Romans on Monday.
Nelson says that means some crew members reach the end of the hours they're allowed to work without being put on another flight.
"We are also very frustrated with the airlines when it comes to operational support during this time," he said.
But he said some of the problems with delays and canceled flights are unavoidable.
"I want to remind people that it's not always the airlines' fault. So a little empathy with the people on the front lines. We're going to get them safely to their destinations," he said.
Cancellation problems are not limited to flights in the United States.
FlightAware data showed there were a total of nearly 1,800 canceled flights worldwide on Sunday alone, with more than 1,400 outside the United States.
Switzerland-based EasyJet announced on Monday the resignation of Peter Bellew as the low-cost airline's chief operating officer,
following flight cancellations, staff shortages and strikes.
Experts predict a summer of travel chaos.
This is the explanation
But the problems are getting more attention in the United States, especially since US airlines received
$54 billion in federal aid to help them cope with falling traffic during the pandemic.
The money was used to maintain staff so they would have enough workers once air traffic returned.
But almost all airlines used severance pay and early retirement packages to keep cutting staff during the crisis, leading to staff shortages.
Senator Bernie Sanders cited such government aid to airlines in calling on the Transportation Department to impose steep fines when flights are delayed or canceled, calling for fines of $55,000 per passenger if airlines cancel flights they know are wrong. they can count on all the staff.
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