ATLANTA (AP) — Hundreds of flights around the world were canceled by noon Sunday, adding to the growing number of canceled flights during the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend in the United States.
More than 1,030 flights had been canceled as of 11:30 a.m. EDT Sunday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday and another 1,500 on Saturday.
More than 250 of Sunday’s cancellations involved planes scheduled to fly to or from US cities.
Delta Air Lines canceled the most flights among the major US airlines, with more than 250 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated on Saturday. More than 140 Delta flights were canceled as of noon Sunday, according to FlightAware.
Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” Atlanta-based Delta said in an email to The Associated Press, noting it is trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance. of Memorial Day weekend.
Delta announced on its website Thursday that, from July 1 to August 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily to parts of the US and Latin America where Delta frequently operates.
“More than at any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation — air traffic and weather control, vendor staffing, rising COVID case rates contributing to higher unscheduled absences than planned in some task forces) are resulting in an operation that is not consistently up to the standards that Delta has set for the industry in recent years,” said Allison Ausband, director of customer experience for Delta, in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations are anticipating large crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fears of contracting COVID-19 while traveling.
Many forecasters believe that the number of travelers will match or even exceed pre-pandemic levels. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than in 2019, and that has, at times, contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing etiquette shock.
Domestic airfares for summer are averaging more than $400 round-trip, up 24% from 2019, before the pandemic, and up a solid 45% from a year ago, according to the firm. Hopper travel data.
