Sudden changes to flight schedules are driving up fatigue reports and damaging morale for pilots at the nation’s largest airlines, say aviator unions, which plan to make the issue a top priority in new contract talks next year. Pilots at American Airlines Group had about a 33% chance of being switched to a new or longer flight schedule during the summer’s peak travel season, the highest rate ever, according to Allied Pilots Association calculations based on company data. Aviators at Delta say their rate is about the same, although the carrier disputed that. The ability to change crew schedules, which is part of existing labor agreements, gives airlines an extra tool to shorten delays and keep more planes in the air. That reliability can help win customers and boost fares, though it comes with a price. Unexpected changes can squash morale and force pilots to turn down some flying because of fatigue. “It drives up your costs, it wears out your people and consumes contractual and regulatory crew time you can never get back,” said aviation consultant Robert Mann. “It’s widespread throughout the industry.” Consolidation in the US airline industry is probably contributing to the problem as some carriers try to use outdated processes to manage larger, more complex networks with more hub airports, Mann said. Story has more detail.<br/>
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There’s growing consensus: This will be the busiest Thanksgiving ever for air travel. The latest comes from airline trade group Airlines for America (A4A), which released its annual Thanksgiving travel forecast Wednesday. A4A expects a record holiday in terms of passenger traffic, matching similar expectations from the TSA. A4A projects a record 30.6m passengers will travel on U.S. airlines during a 12-day window around Thanksgiving. That’s up from about 29m passengers that flew during the comparable period in 2017. For 2018, A4A defines the Thanksgiving travel period as beginning Friday, Nov. 16, and ending the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. This year, A4A expects the busiest day during that period to be Sunday, Nov. 25, when the group estimates 3.06m passengers will travel on US carriers. <br/>
The calendar may say "autumn," but air travellers in the Midwest and Northeast are set to get an early taste of winter. More than 30 Thursday flights have been pre-emptively cancelled in St. Louis, where up to 8 inches of snow were possible. Most of the cancellations there appeared to be on Southwest, according to data from FlightAware. A Southwest spokeswoman confirmed the cancellations, saying the carrier grounded "a couple of dozen flights tomorrow ahead of the inclement weather we’re expecting." The airline also cancelled seven Wednesday-evening flights to St. Louis where the aircraft were to have spent the night there. Chicago Midway, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, were among other Midwest airports where FlightAware showed a smattering of cancellations for Thursday. Messy weather also was forecast for the Northeast, where a mix of snow, ice and rain could strike from the mid-Atlantic north into New England. Story has waiver details.<br/>