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Airlines have said they are preparing to recover from the service crisis that plagued much of the industry last year. But between Friday and Monday, U.S. airlines canceled 2,653 flights, or about 3% of their combined schedule, according to tracking service FlightAware. That’s more than they’ve canceled for the same holiday weekend in the past three years combined.
In the year In 2019, before the pandemic, US airlines had 6,600 more flights on the schedule but canceled only 1.2 percent of scheduled flights.
“This will not bode well for the summer travel season as we expect this to repeat itself in the summer months when more people fly,” said Helen Baker, an analyst at Cowen Airlines, in a note to clients on Tuesday. “This was an opportunity for the airlines to demonstrate that last summer’s delays will not be repeated this summer, but that did not happen.”
Airlines have far fewer workers, especially pilots, than they did before the pandemic. They received $54 billion in taxpayer support to prevent involuntary layoffs during the health crisis, but most airlines have offered buyout and early retirement packages to cut staff and save money when air traffic grinds to a halt. But it takes years for pilots and some airline workers to get certified.
So airlines are making less room for error due to bad weather, air traffic control problems, or crew calls. That’s what they say happened this weekend.
More than at any time in our history, a variety of factors impact our operations now – weather and air traffic control, supplier staffing, increased Covid case rates contributing to more unplanned absences in some work groups – resulting in surgery. Delta has not consistently met the standards it has set for the industry in recent years,” said Alison Ausband, Delta’s chief customer experience officer, in an online post.
“When you stress test the airline’s operating model, you see the same result,” Tajer said. With flights already booked to capacity, “one flight cancellation is not just a fluke, it causes a wave of problems. It’s deja vu all over again,” Tajer added.
With planes as full as they are, it can take longer for airlines to catch up with passengers booked on canceled flights. another seat to reach their destination, Tajer said. Call centers are also short-staffed and overwhelmed with demand, especially when things go awry like they did this weekend.
“You can wait more hours on the phone to rebook a flight than the flight takes you,” he said.
Shortage of workers means higher prices.
Staff shortages mean US airlines still can’t provide enough flights to meet demand. According to Sirius, an aviation analyst firm, the capacity of domestic flights in June, July and August this year was 5 percent lower than in 2019.
But travelers, especially vacationers, are eager to travel again this summer. Many airlines have reported record numbers of customers booking flights early this summer.
“There is a mismatch of supply and demand,” said Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, a travel booking site. “Your hopes of finding cheap flights for the summer are in vain.”
That combination of registration demand and limited seat availability means much higher prices. The Consumer Price Index, the government’s measure of inflation, showed that fares in April were up 33 percent from a year ago and up 10.6 percent from April 2019.
The situation is likely to be worse than the numbers for leisure travelers because business and international travel have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Because those passengers pay higher prices than value-added domestic travelers, vacationing is more expensive than ever.
And it’s not just the most expensive flights.
Lack of available vehicles April rental car prices were up 70% compared to April 2019. Hotels and other accommodation were up 20% in April from a year ago and up 10.6% from April 2019. To speed things up even more during the busy summer travel months.
Experts believe that inflation will begin to recede as prices fall – but not before.
“The surge in demand, I think we’re going to slow down this winter,” said Hayley Berg, chief economist at Hopper, another travel booking site. “That and the normal decline in demand that we see in September and October will probably mean lower prices.”
But if you know your plans, it’s a good idea to book a trip for the end of the year holiday season, she said. The same volatility of strong demand and less supply is likely to repeat at that time.
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