Over 7K flights delayed, canceled on Wednesday
Over 13K flights were delayed earlier this week
Wednesday marked another day of increased flight disruptions, which are upending travel plans for passengers across the country.
As of 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, over 6,200 flights in, out of and across the U.S. have been delayed, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware, which tracks flight delay and cancellation statistics in real-time. Another 1,090 flights were outright canceled.
Disruptions have continued all week even after airlines tried to recover from a four-day stretch of heavy delays and cancelations over the weekend due to thunderstorms on the East Coast.
AMERICAN AIRLINES CUTTING FLIGHTS FROM FALL SCHEDULE
According to FlightAware data, there were nearly 7,000 delays on Monday followed by another 6,335 on Tuesday. Hundreds of other flights were canceled on both days.
Last week, from Thursday through Sunday, there were more than 30,000 delays, according to FlightAware data. There were also over 4,400 cancellations.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 94.63 | +0.37 | +0.39% |
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 14.46 | +0.13 | +0.91% |
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 63.63 | -1.12 | -1.73% |
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 31.77 | -0.60 | -1.85% |
There have been widespread cancellations and delays throughout the summer as demand ramped up faster than expected. Even with reduced schedules, airlines couldn't staff up fast enough.
Although airlines are still batting staffing issues, delays and cancellations were particularly heavy all weekend due to thunderstorm activity and weather ground stops, FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs told FOX Business earlier this week.
Cancellations, in particular, are down compared with the first three months of the year when airlines battled staffing issues related to the omicron variant of COVID-19 as well as winter storms, according to Bangs.
A pilot walks through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
However, delays have increased throughout the second quarter and even into July and August, she continued.
Still, despite the ongoing issues, Bangs said we could have seen even more cancellations if airlines hadn't pared back their summer schedules.
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Earlier this summer, Nicholas Calio, president of the trade group Airlines for America, said its member carriers cut 15% of the flights they originally planned for through August while also ramping up hiring and training to combat issues and become more reliable for passengers.
Problems have still persisted as demand ramps up to pre-pandemic levels, forcing some carriers to reduce their schedule for the fall.
Last week, American announced that it has already taken steps to reduce its overall September system capacity.