DETROIT – Delta Air Lines canceled about 100 flights on Sunday due to staff shortages and opened intermediate seats a month earlier than expected to carry more passengers.
The airline says it has had more than 1 million passengers in the past few days, the highest number since before the coronavirus pandemic started last year.
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience, and most have been rescheduled for the same day of travel,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
Delta DAL,
took steps to increase passenger capacity, including opening intermediate seats on Sunday and Monday, in an effort to accommodate passengers.
On Wednesday, the airline announced that it would stop blocking intermediate seats as of May. The move was made last April to keep passengers further away, a policy that Delta’s CEO has repeatedly cited as a way to boost confidence in the airline. Seats would be reopened as air travel recovered and more people were vaccinated against COVID-19, the airline said.
Delta said the middle seats were only open for Sunday and Monday, and its policy of blocking seats has not changed. When necessary, seats can be unlocked so that customers can reach their destinations on the same day.
“Delta teams have been working on a number of factors, including personnel, large numbers of vaccinations for employees and pilots returning to active status,” the airline said in a statement. Some employees were having adverse side effects when being vaccinated.
On Sunday, websites at three Delta hubs showed 33 canceled arrival or departure flights. There were 19 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, another 11 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and three more at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.
Delta said on Wednesday that almost 65% of people who flew Delta last year expect to receive at least a dose of the new vaccines by May 1.
The aviation industry was divided over the usefulness of blocking intermediate seats to reduce the risk of spreading the COVID-19 on a flight. Airlines, including Delta, Southwest LUV,
Alaska ALK,
and JetBlue JBLU,
limited seats for months, while United Airlines UAL,
never did and American AAL,
he did it only briefly.
Social detachment is difficult, if not impossible, on an airplane, even with the seats half empty – an argument that United CEO Scott Kirby has often made to explain his airline’s resistance to blocking seats.
Air travel in the United States is recovering from pandemic casualties. More than 1 million travelers have passed through U.S. airports in each of the past 20 days, although March traffic has dropped by almost half over the same month in 2019.
The numbers are increasing towards the crucial summer vacation season. Last summer was a catastrophe for airlines, contributing to Delta’s annual loss of more than $ 12 billion. Airlines are eager to increase revenue as quickly as possible, which means selling more seats.