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| Photo Credit: AP. |
U.S. Airlines Friday cancelled a number of flights as they struggle to meet demands over summer boom. The move comes on a second straight day of cancellations as they try helplessly to accommodate growing crowds of summer travellers.
According to The Associated Press, by early afternoon in the eastern U.S., airlines cancelled more than 1,100 flights. Similar cancellations were done on Thursday after more than 1700 flights were cancelled, The Associated Press cited tracking service FlightAware.
Some of the most affected airports included those in Charlotte, North Carolina, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty in the New York City area, and Reagan Washington National outside Washington, D.C., according to The Associated Press.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttgieg held a virtual meeting with airline CEOs to try to go over steps the airlines are taking to operate smoothly over the July 4 holiday and the rest of the summer, improve the accommodation of passengers who often get stranded when flights are cancelled, The Associated Press reports.
The major reason for the cancellations in most cases is bad weather and shortage of workers.
On Friday Delta Air Lines said it had reduced cancellations by hiring more pilots and flight attendants and had scheduled crews to adjust more quickly to disruptions such as thunderstorms.
The same day Los Angeles base airline, Allegiant Air issued a statement saying that bookings for trips after the summer are running above this time in 2019 even though it admitted it was too early to say.
It added that it cancelled more flights over corona virus fears following surge in cases in May which led to absence of crew members.