Airlines Are Trying to Catch Up with Demand
If you’ve been flying this summer, then you probably know already that air travel is a mess. Airlines keep cutting their schedules due to staff shortages. And even flights that are scheduled to take off, are often delayed or canceled.
Delta Air Lines sent out 10K miles to select customers just a few days ago to apologize for such troubles. But most airlines, both in the U.S. and abroad, are suffering similar issues. And it might take a while for things to get back to normal.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an interview last week that the delays and cancellations that have plagued the aviation industry will gradually get better. But that it will take at least a year.
“The biggest challenge that faces us probably for the next 12 months is all the infrastructure challenges around aviation,” Kirby said. “We’ve been hiring. But you look at the mess that’s happening in Heathrow or some of the other challenges we’ve had with air traffic control or other things around the system and the system just can’t support our flying.”
And it’s not just a shortage of pilot, flight attendants or baggage handlers. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told investors in the latest earnings call that the airline is sometimes struggling to provide many of the basic items that you expect on a flight. “There’s not a day that goes by where we don’t have issues with provisioning our aircraft with pillows, blankets, plastic cups, food,” he said. “At various times, we have issues with fueling.”
Isom also talked about the pilot shortage, saying that American will hike pay for 14,000 pilots even higher than initially proposed to help mitigate staffing challenges.
Delta Air Lines is also working on staffing issues and announced a new partnership with private aviation company Wheels Up to help pilots finish their training faster.
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