Chris Lange, FISM News
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Travel over the 4th of July holiday weekend neared pre-pandemic levels, despite ongoing airline staffing shortages and high gas prices.
The Transportation Security Administration estimated that it screened over 9 million airline passengers between Thursday and Sunday. The number peaked at 2.49 million on Friday, making it the busiest day at U.S. airports since the pandemic hit.
As predicted, thousands of flights were canceled over the holiday weekend, leaving travelers scrambling to reach their destinations. FlightAware reported that between 19% and 29% of flights were scrubbed on Saturday alone. Since Thursday, airlines have canceled more than 2,200 U.S. flights and delayed 25,000, according to The Associated Press.
The rate of cancellations over the past two weeks was up by 59% in comparison to the 2019 Independence Day weekend. Still, flight disruptions appeared to have eased somewhat from recent weeks.
Despite the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions, airlines continue to struggle to fill positions, reporting shortages of pilots, air traffic controllers, and other workers.
“It’s not just in North America, it’s everywhere,” said John Grant, an analyst for OAG, a travel-date provider based in the United Kingdom. “It’s a combination of available resources and demand picking up much more quickly than anyone anticipated.”
Grant said the labor shortages in Europe and North America have significantly impacted nearly all major airlines and noted that the situation is unlikely to improve this summer.
Some flight disruptions that occurred along the East Coast over the weekend were attributed to bad weather, but airlines also made unforced errors.
American Airlines accidentally omitted pilot assignments for thousands of flights due to a computer glitch. A spokesman for the airline said Monday that the problem was corrected and crew assignments had been restored for “the vast majority” of flights. He also said the issue had no effect on July Fourth travel.
Ed Sicher, president of The Allied Pilots Association (APA), a union representing America’s pilots, accused the airline of disregarding its pilot contract by unilaterally reassigning pilots to roughly 80% of the affected flights.
Sicher said the union and airline are negotiating extra pay for pilots who had trips dropped, then restored during the “debacle.”
Last Thursday, Delta pilots held protests across the country to demand better pay and working conditions, citing record amounts of forced overtime as the airline seeks to mitigate the pilot shortage.
More flights have been delayed this year compared to any other year in the past decade, according to the news outlet. The ongoing airport chaos likely contributed to the decisions of 42 million Americans to skip the airports and take to the road for their holiday travel plans, despite record-high gas prices.