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American Airlines Cancels Hundreds of Flights As Reopening Brings Surge In Travel

An airline spokesperson says the cancellations are due to unprecedented weather and labor shortages.

American Airlines announced Sunday (June 20) that the airline would cancel hundreds of flights through mid-July. This comes at a time when there is a surge in travel demand as the country reopens.

Wall Street Journal reported that the canceled flights would amount to about 950 flights, 1% of planned flights in the first half of July.

American Airlines spokesperson Shannon Gilson told CNN, "The first few weeks of June have brought unprecedented weather to our largest hubs, heavily impacting our operation and causing delays, canceled flights and disruptions to crew member schedules and our customers' plans."

She continued, "That, combined with the labor shortages some of our vendors are contending with and the incredibly quick ramp up of customer demand, has led us to build in additional resilience and certainty to our operation by adjusting a fraction of our scheduled flying through mid-July."

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CNN reported that American Airlines had 120 cancellations Saturday (June 20). According to Gilson, the airline is projecting 50 to 80 flight cancelations per day going forward, with cancellations spread throughout its system to minimize impact in a single area. She also said the delays would significantly impact the airline's hub in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The airline is in the process of notifying customers who had been booked through July 15 if their flights have been canceled so they can make travel adjustments in advance. The airline told Wall Street Journal that the flight changes would include adjustments to earlier or later flights or connections at different hubs, as well as refunds if the new flights aren't workable.

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