Major flight disruptions continue before July 4th weekend

NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Across the nation, many travelers are experiencing chaos at the airport.

More than 1,900 flights have been canceled, along with nearly 6,500 delays, as of Friday morning, according to FlightAware.

The chaos is expected to only get worse for the travel industry during the Fourth of July weekend. At least 52% of Americans are expected to travel that weekend, according to a survey from The Vacationer.

So far, at least 45 flights out of New Jersey’s Newark-Liberty Airport were canceled Friday.

The airport consistently has some of the highest numbers of cancellations in the country, and when it comes to delays, it’s second behind Chicago’s Midway International Airport.

Among the carriers canceling flights is United Airlines, which recently announced it will cut about 50 flights a day out of Newark. The cuts — about 12% of United flights in Newark — will start July 1 and last the rest of the summer. United is the dominant airline at Newark Liberty International Airport.

“This schedule action will help minimize excessive delays and improve on-time performance – not only for our customers but for everyone flying through Newark,” United Airlines said in a statement.

Other airlines, including Delta and Southwest, have also trimmed schedules. American Airlines announced this week that starting in September it’s canceling service to Toledo, Ohio, Dubuque, Iowa, Islip, New York, and Ithaca, New York.

Air travel has been maddening at airports across the country as streams of cancellations and delays have left travelers frustrated and stranded for hours inside airports.

Airlines blame pilot and crew shortages, air traffic controller issues, and poor weather for the travel chaos. But it also seems the airlines underestimated how many Americans were eager to fly again after two years of pandemic-caused hibernation.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has warned airlines to improve their performance before the Independence Day holiday weekend, and if they fail, they could be fined.

Experts urge passengers to sign up for those alerts from their airline carrier to keep them updated on the status of their flight.