American Airlines cancels 1,400 flights due to staff shortages

American Airlines said on Saturday it has cancelled more than 1,400 flights over the weekend due to staff shortages and unfavourable weather.

The US airline said it cancelled 551 flights on Saturday, 480 flights on Sunday, in addition to 376 flights cancelled on Friday. FlightAware, a flight tracking site, said Americans had also delayed more than 1,000 flights since Friday.

"With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences," the airline said in a statement.

The company said it expected to get through this period of irregular operations soon.

Heading towards the busy holiday travel season, carriers are working to hire more employees.

American Airlines said it is increasing its staffing across all operations, with nearly 1,800 flight attendants returning from leave and more than 600 newly hired flight attendants coming on board by the end of December.

Southwest also said it was hiring aggressively, with the aim of having about 5,000 new employees by the end of this year. read more

Earlier this month, Southwest cancelled nearly 2,400 flights over a three-day period, blaming unfavourable weather and air traffic issues in Florida.