Airlines in US facing shortage of pilots, other workers, say executives
Airlines are having trouble hiring pilots, flight attendants and other personnel, and that’s part of what is causing canceled flights and scrapping of service to some airports, executives told legislators on Wednesday.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said a large service outage in October began when high winds shut down three of five runways at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the airline’s largest hub.
American, he said, ended up with jets and people in the wrong places, and had a hard time getting workers to pick up extra shifts to handle the problem.
Although workers are doing a great job during the pandemic, they are reluctant to take extra shifts due to the risk of the novel coronavirus and unruly passengers, he said.
