More than a third of all flights at La Guardia Airport and more than a quarter of flights at Newark Airport were canceled on Thursday on one of the worst travel days this summer.
The huge cancellation rate quoted by the tracking service FlightAware is due in part to the likelihood of storms late in the day.
However, travel chaos is not limited to airports in the New York area, with more than 1,500 flights canceled Thursday across the country as the peak summer travel season begins.
Travel problems continued on Friday morning, when 67 flights departing from La Guardia Airport were canceled. Newark Airport canceled 70 of its outbound flights by 5 a.m., according to FlightAware.
The shortage of staff, especially the lack of pilots, is to blame for travel headaches across the country, according to industry insiders.
Thursday’s cancellations came after 2,800 flights were canceled in the United States during a five-day period around Remembrance Day weekend.
Unions representing pilots at Delta, American and Southwest Airlines said the companies were too slow to replace pilots who had retired or taken leave during the pandemic.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled in the New York area on Thursday. Bloomberg via Getty Images
The airlines also blame the bad weather and the Federal Aviation Administration, which manages the country’s airspace and air traffic control centers, which are also struggling with staffing problems.
Thursday’s cancellations came when airlines’ chief executives met with US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigig in a virtual meeting to discuss concerns about airport problems and frustrated passengers this summer.
“I’m telling them to understand that this is a time when we really rely on them to deliver reliably to the traveling audience,” Butigig told NBC News.
Lack of staff and lack of pilots are to blame for the cancellation, according to industry insiders.AP
Buttigieg made a number of requests during the meeting. He asked the CEOs to ensure the smooth running of the holiday trips on July 4 and made the airlines consider whether they could meet the flight schedules they published. He also asked to improve customer service.
Nicholas Calio, head of Airlines for America, said industry leaders were grateful for the opportunity to discuss their concerns and “shared commitment to prioritize the safety and security of all passengers” with the transport secretary in a statement.
The number of air passengers – more than 2.2 million per day in the US – is still about 300,000 less per day than pre-pandemic levels in June 2019. However, their number is expected to increase over the next few weeks. and almost certainly broke the pandemic-era record set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year.
With postal wires
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