The canceled flights account for roughly 1% of American’s daily flights in July, or roughly 72 flights per day, according to the company.
American Airlines is canceling hundreds of its flights through at least mid-July to relieve tension on operations as airports see an “incredibly quick ramp-up” in travel demand, the airline said Monday.
The Fort Worth-headquartered company cited “unprecedented weather” at its largest hubs and a shortage of workers as reasoning behind the pullback. The company saw inclement weather affect operations at airports including D-FW and in Charlotte, N.C., in the first half of June. Bad weather conditions can put a strain on airline crews working through delays and rerouted flights.
The canceled flights account for only about 1% of American’s daily flights in July, or roughly 72 flights per day, according to the company. American Airlines canceled more than 300 flights last weekend because flight crews were unavailable, according to CNBC.
“We made targeted changes with the goal of impacting the fewest number of customers by adjusting flights in markets where we have multiple options for re-accommodation,” an American Airlines spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News in a statement.
American Airlines said the pared-back schedule “will help ensure we can take good care of our customers and team members and minimize surprises at the airport.”
Customers whose flights have been affected by the cancellations will receive communication from the airline so they can make adjustments ahead of traveling, the airline told CNN.
An American executive told The Wall Street Journal that the airline was trying to avoid the kind of situation it saw the summer before the pandemic, in 2019, when extreme weather and feuds with its workers strained the company’s operations. At the time, the company was also negotiating a labor contract with its unions and had a smaller fleet due to the grounding of the Boeing 737-Max.
Airports recently passed a pandemic milestone, recording more than 2 million U.S. passengers in a single day in mid-June. At the same time, airport concession operators are under the same labor squeeze as much of the rest of the country since businesses began reopening after the pandemic. Restaurants and retailers at DFW International Airport said in May they were struggling to hire workers despite rising wages and hiring bonuses.