Why do airlines struggle?

The industry is dealing with the rising cost of labor and fuel, and its also struggling to hire and train a new generation of pilots, to replace the workers who opted for early retirement during the pandemic.



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Airlines and the air traffic control system have struggled to overcome bad weather, technology problems, staffing shortfalls and other disruptions over the past two years, contributing to major meltdowns like the one that Southwest Airlines suffered over several days in late December.

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While many airlines blamed it entirely on weather conditions, much of the chaos can be attributed to staffing shortages. We are not back to pre-pandemic staffing levels on either the airline side or the government side, says Citi Analyst and airline expert Steve Trent.

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Allegiant had the worst on-time record, 63.4 percent, followed by JetBlue (64.6 percent) and Frontier (66.1 percent), the analysis says. Travelers can get up-to-date information about the on-time performance of airlines by going directly to the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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Here's the ranking of US airlines from MOST complaints in May 2022 to LEAST complaints in May 2022:
  • American Airlines (575 complaints)
  • United Airlines (400 complaints)
  • Frontier Airlines (301 complaints)
  • Delta Air Lines (281 complaints)
  • Spirit Airlines (269 complaints)
  • JetBlue Airways (244 complaints)


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U.S. travelers report that American Airlines is the most unreliable airline in the world when measured by the total flight problems and reported complaints in 2022. American is also the world's largest airline, so this finding may not surprise frequent flyers.

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This situation is caused mainly by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent slowing of hiring and training, as well as the early retirement of thousands of pilots.

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Your chances of being involved in a fatal plane crash are incredibly small – around 1 in 11 million, according to Harvard researchers. While your odds of being in a plane accident are about 1 in 1.2 million, survivability rates are about 95.7% – so the odds are with you no matter how you look at it.

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Airlines publish schedules about a year out from departure and as the flight date gets closer, airlines often need to change the departure time or scrap the flight altogether. Since travel rebounded following COVID-19 lockdowns, airlines have struggled to accurately predict demand.

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Consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates that despite efforts to close the gap, airlines in North America will face a shortage of nearly 30,000 pilots by 2032. The supply of new pilots will grow, but not enough to offset a continuing wave of retirements, the consultant says. There is cause for hope, however.

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In 2022 year, Frontier Airlines reported 20.26 customer complaints for each 100,000 enplanements on domestic-scheduled operations. This was the highest rate of customer complaints among U.S. carriers.

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ANA All Nippon Airways is named the World's Cleanest Airline in the 2023 World Airline Awards, ahead of Asiana Airlines in 2nd and Qatar Airways in 3rd place. The awards are based on ratings of the standard and quality of cleanliness in the aircraft cabin for airlines.

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