On the Fourth of July weekend, about 30% of flights both domestic and international were cancelled or delayed by airlines in the United States because of staffing shortages.
The number of people this weekend had even been a record to before COVID-19. This shows that travel is finally starting to turn somewhat normal, but many airlines are not ready for this huge change.
On Friday, July 1st, there were over 2.5 million people at the airports in the US. Many of those people were inconvenienced as 464 international and domestic flights were cancelled and more than 6,600 were delayed.
Airline executives have blamed the staffing shortages for these delayed and cancelled flights. Travel Secretary Pete Buttigieg reminded travelers that flights must offer refunds for all of the flights and extra miles if necessary. Since he is the Secretary of Transportation it is his job to inform people flying around the country about important policies such as this one.
Many airlines are reducing the number of flights they have each day to instead hire more flight attendants and pilots.
Often, pilots and other staff do not want to work for the pay they are receiving. Oxford Economics estimates that globally, there were 2.3 million fewer people working in aviation by September 2021 compared with the beginning of the pandemic.
Many pilots feel like their pay is unfair and they feel like they should get a greater salary. The average pay of a pilot per hour is $28.94 to $51.46 an hour. American Airlines is increasing their pay by almost 50% due to staff shortage.
“If you’ve encountered delays and cancellations recently, I apologize,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote in an email to members of its SkyMiles frequent flyer program on Thursday. “We’ve spent years establishing Delta as the industry leader in reliability, and though the majority of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable.”
The number of people this weekend had even been a record to before COVID-19. This shows that travel is finally starting to turn somewhat normal, but many airlines are not ready for this huge change.
On Friday, July 1st, there were over 2.5 million people at the airports in the US. Many of those people were inconvenienced as 464 international and domestic flights were cancelled and more than 6,600 were delayed.
Airline executives have blamed the staffing shortages for these delayed and cancelled flights. Travel Secretary Pete Buttigieg reminded travelers that flights must offer refunds for all of the flights and extra miles if necessary. Since he is the Secretary of Transportation it is his job to inform people flying around the country about important policies such as this one.
Many airlines are reducing the number of flights they have each day to instead hire more flight attendants and pilots.
Often, pilots and other staff do not want to work for the pay they are receiving. Oxford Economics estimates that globally, there were 2.3 million fewer people working in aviation by September 2021 compared with the beginning of the pandemic.
Many pilots feel like their pay is unfair and they feel like they should get a greater salary. The average pay of a pilot per hour is $28.94 to $51.46 an hour. American Airlines is increasing their pay by almost 50% due to staff shortage.
“If you’ve encountered delays and cancellations recently, I apologize,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote in an email to members of its SkyMiles frequent flyer program on Thursday. “We’ve spent years establishing Delta as the industry leader in reliability, and though the majority of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable.”
