Miami, April 4 (BUS): Airlines have canceled more than 3,500 US flights this weekend and postponed thousands more, citing Florida weather and other issues.
FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, has noted significant disruptions at several Florida airports, including in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando, as well as Baltimore, New York and other airports across the country, the Associated Press reports.
JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska Airlines, Frontier, Spirit and American Airlines were the hardest hit, according to FlightAware, with JetBlue and Spirit canceling a third of their scheduled flights on Sunday. Local news reported storms in Florida on Saturday. Several airlines said on Sunday that operations had returned to normal.
The string of cancellations arrived as air travel recovered from the pandemic, with strong demand for spring flights. People have complained on social media of waiting in line or queuing for hours to reschedule their canceled flights and are stranded for days.
“Severe weather in the Southeast and multiple weather monitoring delays have had major impacts on the industry,” a JetBlue spokesperson said in an email. “Today’s cancellations will help us reset our operations and move our crews and aircraft safely to their locations.”
Southwest Airlines also cited “weather and airspace congestion” on Saturday in Florida, as well as a “technological problem.” It canceled about 1,000 flights over the weekend but said that as of 1 p.m. ET, there were no more cancellations on Sunday.
America said that Florida’s weather on Saturday affected its operations and that it is recovering today.
Alaska Airlines appears to be dealing with a separate issue. The airline said on Sunday that the weekend cancellations that began on Friday affected more than 37,000 customers, and more flights could have been cancelled. The airline declined to reveal the reason for canceling its flights, but it referred in its statement to contract negotiations with its pilots. Pilots sat out of service in several US cities on Friday as negotiations faltered. They have been without a new contract for three years.
“Alaska Airlines has failed to properly plan for increased travel demand and take the necessary steps to ensure that pilots are attracted and retained,” the Pilots Association said in a news release Friday.