New year brings more canceled flights for air travelers
By late Saturday afternoon on the East Coast, more than 2,600 U.S. flights and nearly 4,600 worldwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware.
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Widespread flight cancellations continue as omicron spreads
Omicron has intensified already significant staffing issues for airlines, which winnowed workforces in 2020 as air travel collapsed, only to be broadsided when vaccination rates jumped and millions of people felt comfortable flying again this year.
Fauci: U.S. should consider vaccine mandate for domestic air travel
The Biden administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Two officials said Biden’s science advisers have yet to make a formal recommendation for such a requirement to the president.
Flight cancellations continue due to bad weather, sick crews
Airlines have canceled roughly 4,000 flights to, from or inside the U.S. since Friday. Delta, United, JetBlue and American have all said that the coronavirus was causing staffing problems.
COVID-19 variant disrupts holiday travel, but not shopping
Globally, airlines scrapped more than 2,700 flights as of Sunday evening, nearing the more than 2,800 cancellations the day before.
United, Delta cancel more than 200 Christmas Eve flights as omicron hits staff
The U.S. airlines said they were working hard to accommodate as many passengers as possible, but the disruption comes during one of the busiest travel periods in years.
Omicron at least doubles risk of getting infected on planes, airline adviser says
Passengers should avoid face-to-face contact and surfaces that are frequently touched, and people sitting near to each other should try not to be unmasked at the same time during meals, according to the top medical adviser to the world’s airlines.
British Airways scraps proposed London-to-Indianapolis flight for 2022
The airline had eyed a slot at London’s Heathrow Airport for a flight to Indianapolis, but routes to Pittsburgh and Portland, Oregon, were the only two ultimately awarded.
Airlines face shortage of pilots, other workers, execs say
Airlines are having trouble hiring pilots, flight attendants and other personnel, and that’s part of what is causing canceled flights and scrapping of service to some airports, executives told legislators on Wednesday.
Lawmakers say they will try again to regulate airline fees
The legislation would require that fees be “reasonable and proportional” to the airline’s cost of providing the service. It will also require airlines to let children under 14 sit with family members at no extra charge.
British Airways seeking to launch direct London-to-Indianapolis flight
If the route becomes official, it would be the first trans-Atlantic flight from the Indianapolis since Delta Air Lines discontinued its Paris flight in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. reopens to international travel, allows happy reunions
The pandemic-related restrictions have closed the United States to millions of people for 20 months.
American plagued by major flight cancellations for 4th day
Like other airlines, American encouraged thousands of workers to quit last year when air travel collapsed during the pandemic, only to be caught short-staffed this year when travel recovered faster than expected.
American’s canceled flights portend messy holiday travel
The razor-thin staffing that contributed to thousands of canceled U.S. passenger flights in October doesn’t bode well for smooth holiday travel.
American Airlines cancels more than 1,600 weekend flights
The disruptions were similar in their initial cause and size to problems suffered in early October by Southwest Airlines, and they raised ominous questions about whether major airlines are prepared for the busy upcoming holiday travel period.
Republic Airways to launch aircraft dispatch training program
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways announced plans Thursday to start what it says is the state’s first aircraft dispatch training program.
FAA proposes giving flight attendants 1 more hour of rest
The Federal Aviation Administration proposed Thursday that flight attendants get 10 consecutive hours of rest between shifts. The proposal does not change the current 14-hour limit on a flight attendant’s work day.
Southwest cuts flight schedule again to smooth operations
The decision to pare service highlights the difficulty that Southwest and other carriers have had adding workers since the summer, when demand surged more than expected after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
Unsupported ‘sickout’ claims take flight amid Southwest woes
Neither the company nor its pilots’ union has provided evidence to back up their explanations for why nearly 2,400 flights were canceled from Saturday through Monday.
Southwest cancels hundreds more flights, stranding passengers
Southwest Airlines canceled more than 350 flights Monday following a weekend of major disruptions that it blamed on bad weather and air traffic control issues.