Flight cancellation in US remains below 1 per cent during Memorial Day Weekend

Monday, May 29, 2023

The cancellation rates among international and domestic flights in the United States during Memorial Day Weekend remained below 1% on Sunday. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) recorded the rate following the department’s efforts to reduce flight problems travellers faced in 2022.

There are millions of Americans took to the skies this weekend for their travel needs to celebrate the holiday. With more than 50,000 flights scheduled last Thursday, DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the weekend would be a test of the system – the Airline Customer Service Dashboard – designed to inform passengers of their rights and keep airlines accountable for flight issues that occur within their control.

With pandemic restrictions eased, the DOT said it anticipated the passenger levels during the holiday weekend would be numbers not seen since before the pandemic ravaged the industry. In a press conference held last week, Secretary Buttigieg said that airlines have worked to significantly improve their on-time performance rates in the last few months, according to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV.

On Sunday, Buttigieg tweeted the Memorial Day cancellation rates year of year. Despite the low cancellation rate this year, the secretary said performance throughout the weekend would continue to be watched closely.

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