Why airline delays and cancellations are so bad: It’s not just the weather

Hundreds of thousands of US airline customers were stranded this week as severe weather grounded planes and led to canceled flights. But storms were only one factor behind the travel nightmare. Staffing shortages, at both US airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control operations, took a bad situation and made it worse. The situation at US airports was only slightly better Wednesday. As of 2:44 pm ET, FlightAware tracking service reported there were nearly 850 flights canceled and another 3,500 delays. Storms in the Boston area caused a groundstop there early Wednesday and New York’s LaGuardia and Newark airports had a groundstop in the afternoon, keeping planes destined for those locations at the gate or parked on the tarmac at airports around the country. Although that’s better than the 2,200 canceled flights in each of the last two days, or the more than 16,000 delayed flights between Monday and Tuesday, it’s hardly a smooth-running operation. The US air travel system is unable to recover quickly from widespread weather problems because it doesn’t have the bodies to deal with the disruptions. Despite $54b of taxpayer funds funneled into airlines to keep them alive during the pandemic, most airlines greatly reduced staff during the first year of the pandemic when air travel, and fares, plunged. They were not allowed to involuntarily layoff staff but they did offer buyouts and early retirement packages. Many also permanently grounded older, less efficient aircraft. Rehiring staff has taken longer than planned. Story has more.<br/>