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DALLAS - Early on Monday, hundreds of flights had already been canceled in the United States, foreshadowing the impending travel turmoil surrounding the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend.
According to the tracking website FlightAware, more than 700 flights across the US have been canceled as of 9:30 a.m. One in ten flights from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and nearly one-fifth (16%) of the flights out of Newark Liberty International Airport (NWR) were canceled. At New York's JFK Airport, a total of 30 flights (4%) had been canceled.
According to the flight monitoring site, nearly 200 of the hundreds of canceled flights across the nation were flown by Delta Air Lines (DL), and 120 by United Airlines (UA). As of 9:30 a.m., American Airlines (AA) has canceled 60 flights.
Who's to Blame?
Large-scale flight cancellations have been a problem in the US in recent months, in part because of a lack of air traffic controllers on the ground as well as pilot and carrier labor shortages.
Airlines have claimed that it has been difficult for them to replace the gaps left by the COVID-19 pandemic's wave of layoffs and resignations. On its part, the trade association Airlines for America (A4A) has attributed the travel turmoil to a lack of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controllers.
The FAA, however, has responded by bringing up the US$50bn in government funds that airlines got when the pandemic severely disrupted air travel, in response. The FAA said in a statement that when people purchase an airline ticket they expect to go where they need to go "safely, efficiently, reliably and affordably."
As quoted by the New York Post (NYP), “After receiving $54 billion in pandemic relief to help save the airlines from mass layoffs and bankruptcy, the American people deserve to have their expectations met.”
According to the American Automobile Association's (AAA) most recent forecasts, 3.5 million people were anticipated to travel over the holiday weekend by roads, which coincides with the most recent flight cancellations.
According to the AAA, the last time such few people flew during the Fourth of July was back in 2011, telling the NYP that the recent air travel problems, cancellations, and delays might be causing this surge in ground travel.
Featured image: American Airlines N804AN Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Photo: Andrew Henderson/Airways
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