The airlines present in Florida experienced a significant rebound in their activities last winter, enough to make people forget the bad days of COVID-19. They face huge travel demand, according to Henry Harteveldt, industry analyst at Atmosphere Research. Going forward it is expected to increase in this demand.
The difficulty now is that these companies have failed to replenish their workforces. Several employees are no longer there. That’s why some airlines, serving Fort Lauderdale and Miami, have no choice but to scale back their flight schedules for the summer, despite high demand.
JetBlue Airways, one of the carriers with the largest presence at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, claimed it was cutting flights by eight to 10 percent for the spring and summer.
Allegiant said it will also reduce the number of flights for next summer. Spirit Airlines is currently evaluating its flight offer, according to its spokesman Erik Hofmeyer.
American Airlines, which flies to South Florida’s three airports, said it made changes to its summer schedules but did not say whether flight reductions were part of its measures.
Delta Air Lines says it hasn’t curtailed flights yet: “…we haven’t made any schedule adjustments based on staffing…said spokesperson Morgan Durrant. A situation deplored by Delta’s chief pilot, Evan Baach: “We are tired and frustrated because we have worked a record number of overtime hours just to maintain this schedule. “. The company is seeing unprecedented demand for travel over the coming summer.
The objective of reducing supply with certain carriers is to enable them to better manage demand. This improvement should translate into greater response efficiency during the difficulties inherent in air transport. Difficulties encountered can range from bad weather to air traffic control problems to technological failures.
The aim is to ensure that there are sufficient human resources available to cover the various disruptions. These reductions are in the interest of customers and of crew members who must take on excessively heavy workloads, according to the chief pilot at Delta Air Lines.
Those who want to come to Florida next summer will be able to do so but may have to plan earlier.