American Airlines canceled nearly 500 additional flights Monday as the company deals with a days-long domino effect that is, in part, due to staffing issues across American's network.
The website "FlightAware", which tracks delays and cancellations by airline, said Monday that American Airlines had at least 486 cancellations by 11:25 p.m. Monday. The airline also had 694 delays.
An addition, Southwest Airlines on Monday had 1,025 delays and 85 cancellations Monday, according to FlightAware. SkyWest had 448 delays while United had 342, JetBlue had 219 and Alaska had 181.
As has been highlighted in multiple reports, American Ailines' Monday cancellations come just after the airline said it had to cancel over 1,000 flights on Sunday.
The Associated Press pointed to a company statement where American said it was expecting around 1,800 flight attendants to return from leave soon, but the company is also looking to hire at least 600 additional flight staff by the end of the year.
American’s troubles began Thursday and Friday, when high winds at times shut down its busiest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and prevented the airline from using all runways there. That made it difficult for American to get crews in position for upcoming flights. It also caused disruptions. The number of canceled and delayed flights grew larger in number and geographic sweep throughout the weekend.
“To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights,” David Seymour, the airline’s chief operating officer, said in a note to employees on Saturday.
About two-thirds of Sunday's cancellations were due to a lack of flight attendants in the right places, with almost all the remaining cancellations due to a shortage of pilots, according to internal figures.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.