American Canceled Another 6,500 Flights in July

American Airlines continues to struggle with canceled flights.

According to Department of Transportation statistics, American scrubbed more flights in July than any other major U.S. carrier.

With a combination of the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, a series of summer storms and a labor dispute with its mechanics that resulted in accusations of a slow-down among the workers, American has run up against an imperfect storm.

American canceled 6,529 flights in July, about 3.5 percent of its schedule, bringing its two-month total to more than 14,000 canceled flights after scrubbing more than 7,500 in June.

According to CNBC, American’s executives are under pressure to improve operations as the carrier’s stock — already down 11 percent this year — has fallen behind its competitors. Southwest is up 19 percent, United is up 7 percent and Delta is up 18 percent in 2019.

Other carriers, particularly Southwest, the most prolific user of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, have been able to weather the storm – both the figurative, with the Boeing situation, and the literal, with summer storms.

Storms were a major contributor to United finishing second behind American for the highest number of cancellations in July, equal to 2.5 percent of its schedule. United spokesman Charlie Hobart said, “These are always challenging months.”

But American also had the extenuating circumstance of its labor issue.

CNBC noted that a federal court last month issued a permanent injunction against American’s mechanics unions, which the airline alleged were engaged in an illegal work slowdown to disrupt operations and win leverage in contract negotiations. American and the mechanics’ unions resumed contracts talks this week.