DETROIT – Delta Air Lines canceled about 100 flights on Sunday due to staff shortages and, a month earlier than expected, opened up middle seats to carry more passengers.
The airline said it had more than 1 million passengers in the past few days, the highest number since the coronavirus pandemic began last year.
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience, and the majority were booked for the same travel day,” the airline said in a statement Sunday.
Delta DAL,
took steps to increase passenger capacity, including the opening of the middle seats on Sunday and Monday, in an effort to accommodate passengers.
On Wednesday, the airline announced that it would stop blocking the middle seats from May. The move was made last April to keep passengers further apart, a policy that Delta chief executive repeatedly mentions that it increases confidence in the airline. The seats will be reopened as the air travel recovers and more people are vaccinated against COVID-19, the airline said.
Delta said the middle seats were only open for Sunday and Monday, and the policy to block seats has not changed. Where necessary, seats can be unblocked to get customers to their destinations on the same day.
“Delta crews have worked through various factors, including personnel, a large number of employee vaccinations and pilots returning to active status,” the airline said in the statement. Some employees have adverse side effects due to the vaccination.
On Sunday, websites at three Delta hubs showed that there were 33 canceled oncoming or departing flights. There were 19 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, another 11 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and another three in Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.
Delta said Wednesday that nearly 65% of people who flew on Delta last year expect to have at least one dose of the new vaccines by May 1st. This gave Delta the assurance to end the seat limits.
The airline industry was divided over the utility of blocking middle seats to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 on a flight. Airlines including Delta, Southwest LUV,
Alaska ALK,
and JetBlue JBLU,
limited seating for months, while United Airlines UAL,
never done and American AAL,
did it only briefly.
Social distance is difficult if not impossible in an airplane, even when the middle seats are empty – a point that United chief executive Scott Kirby has repeatedly made to explain his airline’s resistance to seating.
Air travel in the United States recovers from the lowest pandemic. More than 1 million travelers have passed through U.S. airports in the past twenty days, although March traffic is nearly half lower than in the same month in 2019.
The numbers are rising on the way to the important summer holiday season. Last summer was a disaster for the airlines, contributing to Delta’s annual loss of more than $ 12 billion. The airlines are eager to increase revenue as quickly as possible, which means more seats need to be sold.