ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines is preparing to handle more than 5 million passengers over Thanksgiving week, one of the busiest travel periods of the year and what is expected to be the heaviest Thanksgiving traffic Delta has seen since the start of the pandemic.
“We’re seeing tremendous demand,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday during a keynote speech at an International Air Safety Summit in downtown Atlanta.
The Thanksgiving period will present a major test not only for Delta but all major airlines, which struggled to handle crowds of travelers over the summer. Atlanta-based Delta canceled hundreds of flights as passenger demand rebounded from the depths of the recession and blamed staffing issues that prompted it to slash flights. Although the airline has been hiring more staff, new employees have had to go through training and gain experience in their jobs.
