After a summer of air travel marked by high prices, canceled flights and delays, pilots planned to picket at a dozen airports across the country Thursday.
About 1,000 pilots from the Air Line Pilots Association union were expected to participate in informational pickets nationwide at the start of the busy Labor Day holiday weekend, calling for airlines to address the operational issues leading to flight delays and cancellations.
The pickets come as airlines have struggled with both their own staff shortages and staffing limitations in airports and air traffic control towers that they said have posed challenges as they work to recover from the dropoff in air travel early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines have faced a looming pilot shortage for years, and that was exacerbated by the pandemic.
