Why have there been so many delays and cancellations?The biggest factor affecting cancellations is that airlines are incredibly short-staffed. When the pandemic slowed air travel to a trickle, many carriers bought out employees' contracts and encouraged older pilots to take early retirement.As a result, from December 2019 to December 2020, the number of airline workers shrunk by at least 114,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now carriers are clamoring to staff back up, but they're finding it hard to fill positions.
