(Washington) Americans on their way to the airport to join their families for the National Day of July 4 risked having a bad surprise on Saturday, the airlines having already canceled hundreds of flights due in particular to staffing problems .
Posted at 1:42 p.m.
By midday, 600 flights had already been canceled, while nearly 2,200 others were delayed, according to flightaware.com.
The situation was already difficult the day before, according to the specialized site, which listed Friday 587 canceled flights out of a total of 3060 in the world, and nearly 8000 delays.
These setbacks for American passengers constitute a basic trend: the airlines of the United States, which employ 15% less staff compared to the pre-pandemic period, are having difficulty managing the massive return of passengers to their planes.
Companies in the sector say they are working to solve the problem, intensifying their recruitment campaigns for pilots and other categories of personnel and reducing the number of seats available for passengers.
Aviation sector officials mention other aggravating external factors, in particular climatic or due to COVID-19.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reminded passengers on Twitter on Saturday that they are entitled to a refund in the event of a cancellation.
Delta Airlines pilots also demonstrated on Thursday to demand wage increases in relation to the number of overtime hours worked.
“It is frankly irresponsible to overbook. Coming out of the pandemic, we plan more flights than we have people to fly them, ”regrets one of their union representatives, Jason Ambrosi, on the CNN channel on Saturday.
The pilots, tired, do not want to block the passengers, he assured, “but it is a question of safety”.