Airlines Forced to Cancel Holiday Flights Due to Staff Shortages

Due to staff shortages, airlines have been forced to cancel holiday flights. According to NBC News, airlines are having a large issue with a shortage of pilots. According to one flight consultancy, NBC reported that “U.S. airlines are trying to hire at least 12,000 pilots combined this year.”.

Being that the summer is a major flight season for airlines, the shortage of staff members has caused the cancellations of many flights in the US to skyrocket. NBC News reported that Delta has been announcing the cancellation of 100 flights daily from the first of July, all the way through the seventh of August in the US and Latin America. It is predicted that this issue could continue on for another five years, especially since “most pilots with commercial licenses are not able to fly for mainstream carriers”, and it can take “up to five years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to train people to fly jets for even regional carriers.”. Southwest Airlines has also been reported to be cutting around 20,000 flights.