American Airlines canceled more than 1,500 flights between Oct. 29 and Oct. 31, citing staff shortages and inclement weather.
In addition to 340 flights being canceled on Oct. 29, 540 were canceled on Oct. 30, and 650 were canceled on Oct. 31, a spokeswoman for the Texas-based carrier told The Epoch Times in an email.
In a letter to employees obtained by The Epoch Times, Chief Operating Officer David Seymour blamed “severe winds” in the area of its Dallas-Fort Worth hub.
“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” he said. “To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights.”
American said it expects the issues to be resolved soon.
The spokeswoman said that the problems aren’t related to the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Capt. Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American pilots, also said the cancellations aren’t linked to the vaccination requirements.
Weather was the catalyst, although managemental failure also contributed, Tajer told The Epoch Times in an email.
“Management is failing at the most fundamental part of running an airline. Connecting crews to the airplane. Our employees are suffering this failure as much as passengers as crews are stuck out into their days off while scrambling to find hotels,” he said.
“Mother nature generates a storm and management’s failure to properly schedule creates storms days after.”
Of the flights canceled on Oct. 30, all but around a dozen were due to the inability to connect workers to airplanes, Tajer said.
American announced its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Oct. 1.
“While we are still working through the details of the federal requirements, it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines,” Doug Parker, American’s CEO, said in a memorandum that day.
Executives at the company later said employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 24 or be fired.
