Staffing solutionsĪmerican plans to fly as much as 94% of its 2019 schedule during the second quarter, while United Airlines expects to fly 87% and Delta Air Lines plans to fly 84% compared with three years ago. Those carriers "are likely to be disproportionately impacted by this effect given that low fare traffic accounts for a greater share of their revenue base than for the major carriers," he wrote in a note on April 11. Schedule cuts for June are deeper at low-cost and ultra low-cost airlines than at network carriers because of staffing shortages and high fuel costs, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg. JetBlue, for example, slashed its plan to expand flying as much as 15% this year from 2019 levels and is now planning a schedule no more than 5% up from three years ago as it tries to stabilize its operation while facing staffing shortages, including from pilot attrition. "The goal is to prevent the cancellations in the first place so that we don't have to re-accommodate people given the high loads that we expect this summer," Maya Leibman, American's chief information officer, said on an earnings call earlier in April.Ĭarriers including Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways have already pared back spring and summer flying. It analyzes data such as crew availability and passenger connections, among other data points. Dubbed HEAT, the tool helps the airline to delay more flights ahead of bad weather thunderstorms and avoid canceling them later, according to the town hall. "People really need to feel like they have control of their itineraries."Īmerican over the last three years has developed its Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool which it debuted last month. "If we're reliable, the seat is much more comfortable, the food tastes a lot better, the service that we provide is much more accommodating," American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told employees in a town hall on April 12. But travelers could pay the price if they are forced to buy a new, last-minute ticket on another airline to make it to big events like a wedding or keep other travel plans. When planes are packed, airlines have fewer options to move passengers to alternate flights, setting up a game of musical chairs in the sky - with luggage.Īirlines don't charge passengers to rebook and big network carriers scrapped standard economy date-change fees to spur bookings during the coronavirus pandemic. One of airlines' biggest challenges in what's shaping up to be a monster travel season is how to handle routine disruptions like bad weather, whether that means delaying flights or canceling outright before passengers arrive at the airport. Their efforts include massive hiring, better technology for staff and customers, earlier planning for storms, and for some carriers, conservative scheduling or cuts to their spring and summer schedules altogether. As the peak travel season gets underway, the industry risks a repeat of those headaches, and airlines are hoping to get ahead of the problems.
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