It’s officially the start of the summer holiday season and airline travelers are in for a pileup of cancellations. More than 1,300 flights were canceled as of Saturday afternoon, following more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.
According to the American Automobile Association, almost 40 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles over the holiday weekend, with more than 3 million expected to fly.
According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, the total number of delays within, into, or out of the United States today is up to 2,821flights.
And the number of cancellations and delays is all dependent on which airline you have chosen to use. But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told The Wall Street Journal that many major US airports were subject to ground stops and delays, limiting takeoffs and landings, because of staffing issues and traffic volumes.
Delta Air Lines is most affected by the cancellations, with more than 240 flights, or 9 percent of its operations, axed on Saturday. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered and has its largest hub, is heavily affected by the travel snags.
According to CNN, Delta blamed Saturday’s cancellations on bad weather and “air traffic control actions” on Friday, saying it is trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance.
In a statement on its website on Thursday, Delta announced that from July 1 to Aug. 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily in parts of the U.S. and Latin America that Delta frequently serves.
Delta also said the company will issue travel waivers for those affected by bad weather in the Southeast and Northeast this weekend. The airports most affected, which include the New York City and Washington, DC, areas, are listed on the company’s website.
Separately, JetBlue said it would cut 8% to 10% of its summer schedule.” Alaska Airlines reduced its schedule by about 2% through June to match “pilot capacity.”
