NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — On Thursday, Delta Airlines announced its plans to reduce flights throughout the summer months.
As America sees a travel surge, airlines are doing everything they can to build an extra cushion for irregular operations. With fewer pilots available and other staffing issues, flight reductions are the best tool to fight massive meltdowns.
According to the press release, Delta will reduce service by approximately 100 daily departures, primarily in the U.S. and Latin America. Delta hopes this will “build additional resilience in our system and improve operational reliability for our customers and employees; we’ll continue to proactively adjust select flights in the coming weeks.”
Full statement from Delta:
In recent months, we’ve made a number of adjustments to minimize disruptions and bounce back faster when challenges occur. And that’s why we’ll be taking additional steps in the coming days and weeks to strategically decrease our flight schedule this summer. From July 1-Aug. 7, we’ll reduce service by approximately 100 daily departures, primarily in markets in the U.S. and Latin America that Delta frequently serves. This will build additional resilience in our system and improve operational reliability for our customers and employees; we’ll continue to proactively adjust select flights in the coming weeks.
“More than any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation – weather and air traffic control, vendor staffing, increased COVID case rates contributing to higher-than-planned unscheduled absences in some work groups – are resulting in an operation that isn’t consistently up to the standards Delta has set for the industry in recent years,” said Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband. “We deeply appreciate the energy and efforts of our people and the confidence of our customers as we adapt and pivot to ensure we provide the airline-of-choice experience we’re so proud to be known for.”
Delta teams strive to notify customers of itinerary changes as far in advance as possible. If your upcoming flight is impacted by a schedule change or delay, we’ll send updates directly to a mobile device or by email if contact information is included during booking or added later via My Trips online.
We also issue waivers in the event of inclement weather, offering customers whose travel includes affected cities the option to consider moving their travel to before or after the weather event, which can also help avoid unnecessary waiting at airports. Due to forecast weather in the Southeast and Northeast regions of the U.S., Delta has issued a travel waiver – effective May 26-28 – for those who may be impacted in the days ahead.
If upcoming bookings for later this summer happen to change, our teams will provide customers with the next-best itinerary that gets them where they need to go with the shortest delay possible.
As summer travel officially gets underway, Delta expects to welcome approximately 2.5 million customers this Memorial Day weekend – a 25% increase from 2021 passenger levels. These latest adjustments build on other actions Delta has taken recently, including:
- Continued engagement with the FAA on improving processes for air traffic management
- Adding several hundred new pilots and flight attendants to the operation every month as we hire and train to support our growth
- Launching initiatives to improve boarding time and departure performance