The country is currently dealing with a shortage of pilots.  Because of that, some major airlines are having to cut service to some cities.

What caused the pilot shortage?

It's strange how there are so many shortages these days and most of them can be traced back to the pandemic.  In the instance of pilots, when the country went into lockdown, people were obviously traveling less.  It was a lot less.  Sometimes flights were taking off with just a handful of people on them.  Obviously, when there aren't as many tickets being purchased, fewer flights can take off.  If there are fewer flights, there's not as much work to go around.  Airlines began to cut back on staff to save money.  They offered many pilots packages to retire early.

Then the lockdowns got lifted and people were hungry to travel again.  So airlines started to sell more tickets again but there weren't enough pilots to fly the planes.  They were either let go or they retired.  Now there aren't enough to fly all the flights that are being sold.

What are airlines doing about it?

Some major airlines are having to cancel flights.  According to Fox Business, Alaska Airlines has had to cancel about 50 flights per day since April.  Now they will be cutting back on the cities that they service.

Which cities will be dropped?

Two cities in New York and one in Ohio will no longer receive service from American Airlines after September 7th.  In New York, that includes Islip and Ithaca.  In Ohio, they will be dropping Toledo.

"We’re extremely grateful for the care and service our team members provided to our customers in Islip, Ithaca and Toledo, and are working closely with them during this time," - American Airlines

What if you already had arrangements to fly to those cities after that date but prior to the announcement?

American Airlines is reaching out to customers who are scheduled to travel after the aforementioned date and is offering alternate arrangements.

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