Hundreds of returns have been canceled in the United States at the beginning of the Memorial Day “bridge”, one of the busiest weekends of the yearas a result of bad weather and lack of staff.
First thing on Saturday more than 300 planned flights had been canceled for this day within the country or with departure or destination in it, according to the FlightAware tracking website.
That figure is added to more than a thousand cancellations on Friday and the 84 that are already planned for Sunday.
Bad weather in various parts of the countrytogether with the lack of personnel in some airports and airlines, are considered the main reason for the high number of canceled flights.
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, for its acronym in English) already warned that many of the largest airports in the country were experiencing limitations in takeoffs and landings due to this lack of personnel and the high volumes of traffic.
The situation occurs despite the fact that several airlines had already reduced flights for the summer precisely to avoid difficulties by not having enough employees to guarantee their usual frequencies.
Memorial Day, which is celebrated next Monday, unofficially marks the start of the summer season in the United States and is traditionally one of the busiest weekends of the year.
This year more than 39 million people are expected to travelaccording to estimates by the American Automobile Association (AAA), the largest group of motorists in the country, owner of its own travel agency.
This is an 8.3% increase from 2021, bringing travel volumes almost in line with 2017.
air travel will increase by 25% compared to last yearthe second largest increase since 2010, and the number of travelers who will choose that mode of transport will be 3 million.
Among the favorite destinations are tourist beach areas such as South Florida, where this year the airports expected to break passenger records during this “bridge”.