Staff shortages, strikes, and general traffic chaos have forced many carriers to cut scheduled flights.
Lufthansa has announced that it will cancel some flights from its winter schedule from now until March 26, 2023. The airline has not yet said how many flights will be cancelled but noted that this is due to staff shortages, especially at Frankfurt Airport.
British Airways has announced the cancellation of over 1,000 flights until October 29. Another 10,000 flights will be cancelled from October 29 until March 2023, amounting to a reduction of eight percent on its usual winter service.
SAS has removed 1,600 flights from its September and October schedule, which it says have been caused by a pilots’ two-week strike.
American Airlines plans to cut more than 29,000 flights in November to avoid chaos.
Over 4,000 Delta Airlines routes in the US will be cut across the board in November due to staff shortages.
Around 191,000 European airline employees were laid off in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that air travel has skyrocketed, the world is experiencing a shortage of personnel to service baggage checkpoints, security personnel, and flight crew. Efforts to hire new employees are hampered by lengthy security checks and unattractive working conditions.