A passenger waits for a Delta Air Lines flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.Hundreds of flights worldwide were canceled by midday Sunday, adding to the mounting number of scrubbed flights during the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend in the U.S.. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations Friday and another 1,500 on Saturday.Delta Air Lines canceled the most flights among major U.S. airlines, with more than 250 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated Saturday.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines reported minimal cancellations and delays Sunday. Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” Atlanta-based Delta said in an email to The Associated Press, noting it’s trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance of the Memorial Day weekend.
Many forecasters believe the number of travelers will match or even surpass pre-pandemic levels. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than they did in 2019, and that has, at times, contributed to widespread flight cancellations.Domestic airline fares for summer are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24% higher than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and a robust 45% higher than a year ago, according to travel-data firm Hopper.
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