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American Airlines cancelled 1,700 flights over Halloween weekend due to weather and staffing shortages Blog 
Huge disruptions over Halloween weekend.
American Airlines cancelled more than 1,700 flights over the weekend as it dealt with weather issues and staffing shortages.
In a letter to employees, AA said severe winds at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport reduced arrival capacity by more than half.
The disruption created a knock-on effect, leading to more cancellations as “staffing begins to run tight, as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” the memo said.
The airline had cancelled 848 flights as of 3:00 p.m. EST Sunday, more than 16% of its total schedule. That follows 548 trips cancelled by American on Saturday, and 343 on Friday.
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The cancellations are just the latest in a string of mass-disruptions across the US aviation industry in recent months.
While demand has been steadily rebounding, carriers remain hamstrung by staff cuts put in place more than a year and a half ago when Covid-19 began to decimate the industry.
In August, Spirit Airlines said a confluence of factors, including bad weather and staff shortages, led it to cancel 2,800 flights over a 10-day period
Last month, Southwest Airlines cancelled around 2,000 flights, blaming the disruption on thin staffing that made it difficult to recover after bad weather in Florida.
“Airlines found they overcompensated in terms of the cut they made to their fleets, to their payroll counts,” said Vik Krishnan, an aviation consultant at McKinsey & Co.
“You can’t fly planes, if you don’t have people to unload the bags that are on them, or people to check you in, or people to help you board an airplane safely.”
