Last year was rough for the airline industry to the point that the federal government had to assist the airlines financially. Now that Americans are more confident to travel once again, airlines are dealing with a new problem. Some airlines are now dealing with labor shortage that has caused flight cancelations.
Southwest last month canceled 2,687 flights according to Flightaware.com. However, Southwest isn’t the only airline that has to deal with this problem. American Airlines, on the other hand, canceled 2,423 flights. In the same month, both United canceled 189 and Delta with 106 flights.
More Than Just Weather and IT Problems
In mid-June, Southwest experienced weather problems and IT issues that caused the cancelations. However, it is clear that there is a deeper problem that caused these cancelations. ABC News was able to talk to Southwest crew to discover that the airline is suffering from staffing shortages. According to Southwest captain and president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Casey Murray, “Southwest is facing labor shortages, from ramp to customer service agents to our flight attendants, pilots, and a lot of those are, they’re having trouble filling”.
The same can be said about American Airlines. American Airlines already announced to customers that customers can expect up to 80 cancellations every day until July 15.
Because of their staffing problem, Southwest also dealt with 34,250 delayed flight delays in June. As for American Airlines, the airline delayed a total of 20,418 flights last month.
Morale is Low
Southwest flight attendant and union president Lyn Montgomery, who worked for the airline for 29 years, says that it has been the worst she ever experienced.
She said that “It’s the lowest morale we’ve ever seen”. She added that “We are normally a pretty happy workforce who work for Southwest Airlines and have always taken pride in that but now morale is at the lowest it’s ever been”.
During Father’s Day Weekend, 20% of the airline’s flight attendants called in sick. According to Montgomery, most of those sick calls were because of the current stressful situation at work.
Southwest sent a statement to address the labor shortage situation saying that “We’re aware of the frustration this disruption is having on our employees and customers. We apologize and we are dedicated to doing better”.
