Thunderstorms and staffing issues forced American Airlines and Spirit Airlines to cancel and postpone hundreds of flights this week.
According to the flight tracking website Flight awarenessOn Tuesday, American Airlines cancelled 288 flights, accounting for 9% of its total flights. American Airlines also experienced 445 delays, which accounted for 15% of its flights.
exist on Monday, American Airlines cancelled 563 flights, accounting for 18%, and delayed 1,048 flights, accounting for 34%.
The Dallas/Fort Worth International Center reported that this was caused by strong winds, hail and lightning that lasted for nine hours. Lightning became a safety issue for ground crews.
“Mother Nature’s performance was poor, and many flights to and from DFW were delayed or cancelled,” American Airlines said to a customer on Twitter on Sunday.
Spirit Airlines also encountered a similar problem.
Spirit cancelled 352 flights on Tuesday, accounting for 51%, and delayed 77 flights, accounting for 11%. The situation was worse on Monday, with 334 flights cancelled, accounting for 42%, and 236 flights delayed, accounting for 29%.
Spirit said in a statement: “We are working around the clock to mitigate travel disruptions caused by overlapping operational challenges, including weather, system outages, and personnel shortages in certain operating areas.”
“In response to these challenges, Spirit once again implemented some voluntary cancellations today to reset our operations.”
In recent days, Southwest Airlines has also suffered a large number of cancellations and delays.
If the airline suspects that the problem cannot be easily resolved, they will cancel the flight to prevent passengers from being trapped at the airport.
