American Airlines Cancels Another 480 Flights, Promises to Correct Staffing Issues

For the second time in 30 days, a major U.S. airline has been forced to make a major number of cancellations in one weekend because of a combination of bad weather and tight staffing. This time it was American Airlines. 

According to Flightaware, American canceled a total of 482 flights on Monday, 16% of its overall schedule. That followed over 1,000 flights canceled on Sunday and another 551 on Saturday. In total, American from Friday to Monday canceled well over 2,000 flights. 

In a memo to employees, CEO Doug Parker said that two days of severe winds at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, American’s largest hub, reduced arrival capacity by more than half. Those cancellations created a snowball effect that, when paired with already tight staff, ultimately caused the outsized number of cancellations. 

Parker said that American is continuing to “staff up across our entire operation” with another 1,8000 employees returning from leave this week and the remainder coming back in December. Parker also said that that American plans to hire another 600-plus flight attendants by the end of the year. 

However, it is not the first time in 2021 that a major airline cited weather and staffing issues after having to cancel a large number of flights. Southwest mentioned similar issues after it had to cancel close to 2,000 flights in one weekend last month. Southwest said that weather in Florida created a ripple effect that did not allow its fleet and its staff to be in the right place. 

The issues are expected to cause more issues as travel ramps up both toward the holiday season and when the United States reopens for international travel on Nov. 8. 

While TSA checkpoint travel numbers are up heavily over last year, they still have leveled off since early summer and have not reached the general levels from 2019. Oct. 31, for instance, saw 1.84 million people travel through TSA checkpoints, almost double 2020’s throughput but still well off the 2.45 million in 2019.

Robert Isom, American Airlines president, said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 10, that the carrier expects “a lot of passengers, tremendous pent-up demand” during the holidays. Isom said American was doing its “best to make sure that we have the right people in the right place.