Thousands Of U.S. Flights Canceled, Hindering Memorial Day Travel

ACROSS AMERICA — Major airlines canceled thousands of flights on Friday and Saturday, creating significant disruptions and likely a headache or two for the nearly 3 million Americans expected to travel by plane this Memorial Day weekend.

As of 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday, nearly 1,400 flights had been canceled at U.S. airports, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. More than 2,300 flights were canceled Friday.

Delta Airlines canceled the most flights of any U.S. airline on Saturday. The airline canceled 245 flights, which accounted for 9 percent of all flights, according to FlightAware.

The carrier blamed Saturday's cancellations on bad weather and "air traffic control actions" on Friday, CNN Business reported.

Meanwhile, United canceled 27 flights, American Airlines axed six and Southwest canceled four.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where Delta is based, was hit hardest Saturday as 60 flights were canceled and 95 others were delayed.

More than 39 million people were expected to travel this holiday weekend, an 8.3 percent increase over 2021, according to the annual travel forecast published by AAA. Air travel was also expected to jump by 25 percent.

According to AAA, air travel was expected to comprise 7.7 percent of all holiday weekend travel, the highest share for air travel since 2011.

Earlier this week, Delta announced that from July 1 to Aug. 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily in parts of the United States and Latin America, ABC News reported.

"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," Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband said in an online post.

Air travelers are also experiencing sticker shock when purchasing tickets, according to ABC News.

For summer, domestic airline fares are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24 percent higher than this time in 2019 and 45 percent higher than a year ago, ABC News reported citing travel-data firm Hopper.