NEW YORK. Several major US airlines have been hit by widespread disruptions recently. With the reopening of US borders and new vaccine requirements for employees around the corner, it raises questions ahead of the busy travel season at the end of the year.
This past weekend brought chaos to American airports when airline giant American Airlines was forced to cancel thousands of flights.
It started with two days of fall storms over Dallas, Texas, that halved capacity at the city's main airport. The delays in Dallas later led to widespread disruptions in the airline's systems as crews were stuck at the wrong airports, according to an internal letter from the airline's chief financial officer, David Seymour, to employees that has been circulating in the US media in recent days.
After four days of chaos and more than 2,300 canceled flights, American Airlines finally appears to have started to get a handle on the problems. On Monday, the company had canceled 92 flights, 3 percent of the day's departures, according to the website Flight Aware, which compiles global flight data.
The aviation giant's problem-ridden weekend comes after several competitors have suffered similar problems.
Earlier in October, Southwest Airlines was forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights over three days after similar weather disruptions in Florida. The incident cost the company $75 million, equivalent to SEK 640 million.
A compilation from the aviation analysis company Cirium shows that it has become significantly more difficult for the American aviation giants to plan their routes.
The four largest airlines in the US, which together account for over 60 percent of the market, canceled a fifth of their flights in September compared to the original plans published before the summer.
It is a substantial increase compared to the same period in 2019, when only 3 percent of flights were canceled.
”Airlines are now making major changes to how they plan their flights. They are announcing or canceling them much closer to the departure date as they grapple with the uncertainties of the pandemic,” Cirium notes.
Several changes are lurking around the corner. After more than a year and a half of closed borders to, for example, the EU, the US will open to vaccinated travelers starting next week.
In addition, at the beginning of December, new vaccination rules will come into effect for companies that take on government assignments, which includes several of the United States' major airlines.
By the end of November, all employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which handles security checks at US airports, will also be vaccinated. In mid-October, the agency stated that 40 percent of employees had still not been vaccinated.
American Airlines, who have urged their employees to get vaccinated or apply for an exemption, have previously stated that they do not believe they should have to fire employees who do not get vaccinated.
”"We are very confident that we will have everyone we need to follow our flight schedule," said CEO Doug Parker in connection with the company's report release at the end of October.
The airline expects 1,800 flight attendants who have been furloughed due to the pandemic to return to work over the next month, while Southwest Airlines has announced plans to hire 5,000 people before the end of the year to increase capacity.
Source: DI.SE
