Flight Delays And Cancellations Marring Holiday Weekend Travel

Thousands of flights were cancelled and delayed on Sunday as Americans were travelling during the 3-day holiday weekend, which includes Father’s Day and Juneteenth.

What Happened: By Sunday afternoon, there were 2,576 reported flight delays and 837 cancellations for flights within, into or leaving the U.S., according to data from FlightAware. This follows a difficult Saturday for air travelers, as 6,466 flights were delayed and 860 flight were cancelled.

Delta Air Lines Inc DAL cancelled 7% of its flight on Sunday, and was forced to delay 9% of its departures. A Delta spokesperson on Saturday said that the airline’s operations were being impacted by a variety of factors, “including challenges with air traffic control, weather, and unscheduled absences in some work groups.”

Delta last week announced it was cancelling 100 daily departures during the period of July 1 to August 7.

Also Read: American Airlines Bulls, Bears Battle Over This Level: Where Will The Stock Land?

Meanwhile, American Airlines Group AAL was experiencing delays of 9% of its flights, and United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL was reporting 6% of flights delayed on Sunday.

The weekend flight disruptions come after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, on Friday, tweeted that airline passengers should be receiving "reliable service" as the volume of travelers picks up.

Air travelers should be able to expect reliable service as demand returns to levels not seen since before the pandemic.

— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) June 17, 2022

Some domestic airports seeing a high number of flight delays on Sunday are Detroit Metro (6%), Los Angeles International (8%), Chicago O’Hare (7%), Miami International (7%), and Denver International (11%).

Although several international hubs were seeing even more significant delays on Sunday, including London Heathrow (40%), Frankfurt International (33%), Amsterdam Schiphol (34%), and Melbourne Tullamarine (30%).