An American spokeswoman stated in an email that the airline had cancelled more than 600 flights, which is about 12% of its total operations. This adds up to 460 flights that were cancelled on Saturday due to weather-related staffing issues.
The company stated in an October 30 statement that three of the five runways were closed due to severe weather at Dallas-Fort Worth’s hub.
The “proactive” cancellations are a “measure to minimize any inconvenience as much as possible,” American said in the statement. “Most of the customers impacted by these changes are being rebooked the same day.”
More than a year after the Covid-19 ban, airline travel is gaining momentum. According to the Transportation Security Administration, the number of passengers flying in America reached 1.93million on Thursday. This is more than double the 873.636 figures for the same weekday one year ago.
An earlier week, the Biden Administration issued new rules to travelers to the U.S. that required proof of vaccination against Covid-19 as well as a positive test. These changes, which take effect on Nov. 8, are the largest in U.S. travel policies since the outbreak of the pandemic.
According to FlightAware, American cancelled 670 flights Oct. 31. This was the largest number of cancellations for any airline. Another 95 flights were also delayed. China Eastern Airlines Corp. was second with 481 cancellations.
