Hundreds of American Airlines flights canceled, delayed Monday
About 338 flights, or 6% of the carrier's flight schedule, have been canceled
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American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Monday morning following a slew of disruptions over the weekend.
By 9:30 a.m. ET, about 338 flights, or 6% of the carrier's flight schedule, had been canceled, American Airlines said.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 14.37 | +0.17 | +1.20% |
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Meanwhile, tracking service FlightAware estimated that roughly 300 flights are canceled and another 187 flights have been delayed as of 9:30 a.m. ET.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier told FOX Business in a statement that it continues "to see improvement in its flight schedule Monday" and expects "considerable improvement" beginning Tuesday, although it is still experiencing "some residual operational recovery" from the weekend.
Still, Monday marks the fourth straight day of travel woes for American, which has been grappling with staffing shortages and bad weather.
From Friday through Sunday, the carrier canceled nearly 2,000 flights but expected things to lighten up by Monday, according to data from American Airlines.
The airline's troubles began Thursday and Friday, when, at times, high winds shut down its busiest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and prevented the airline from using all runways there.
That made it difficult for American to get crews in position for upcoming flights and caused disruptions. The number of canceled and delayed flights grew larger in number and geographic sweep throughout the weekend.
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About two-thirds of Sunday’s cancellations were due to a lack of flight attendants in the right places, with almost all the remaining cancellations due to a shortage of pilots, according to internal figures seen by The Associated Press.
However, David Seymour, the airline’s chief operating officer, said that nearly 1,800 flight attendants will begin returning to their jobs starting Monday and at least 600 new hires will be on board by the end of the year. He said the airline is also hiring pilots and reservations agents in time for the holidays.
The nature of the debacle — starting with bad weather in part of the country before spinning out of control — was similar to what American's competitor, Southwest, faced in early October.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.