Staff shortages, bad weather lead to thousands of weekend flight cancellations

It ended a month of turbulent flying in the United States following Southwest Airlines cancellations in early October.

News 12 Staff

Nov 1, 2021, 12:47 PM

Updated 1,069 days ago

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Staff shortages and bad weather are being blamed for thousands of flight cancellations at airports this past weekend.
American Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights.
It ended a month of turbulent flying in the United States following Southwest Airlines cancellations in early October.
At the latest count around 12 p.m. Monday, 46 American Airlines flights were off the schedule between the New York City metro and Philadelphia airports.
Meanwhile at Newark Liberty International Airport, 11 American Airlines were scrapped for the day - nearly 1 in 3 scheduled for the carrier. The numbers continue to change at all impacted airports throughout the day.
The problems began late last week at the airline's busiest hub in Dallas, Texas, where bad weather kept flights from using all the runways and crews were unable to get into position.
The ripple effect lasted through the weekend, which forced the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights.
American Airlines says around 1,800 flight attendants returned from leave on Monday, and hundreds of new hires are expected to join the workforce by December. The returning flight attendants and new workers will help ease the cancellations and delays that fliers have experienced over the weekend.
There was a reduction in the number of delays and cancellations, but more than 10% of all scheduled flights for American Airlines for Monday were grounded.
According to Flight Aware at last check, American Airlines canceled 334 flights on Monday, with 87 of them in Dallas.