Logan Flight Delays To Continue Through Summer, May Ease In Fall

BOSTON — With restrictions lifted and more people able to take time off to vacation, it seems like everyone is just trying to get away - but flight cancelations and delays seem to be causing more of a headache than needed-relaxation time.

The July 4 holiday is always a difficult time to fly, wherever you are in the country, someone is trying to get home or go away, and this year there were more than 2,000 domestic flight cancelations. On July 5, more than 600 flights were canceled and 5,500 were delayed, FlightAware reported. The rest of the week brought in about 300 cancelations and 5,000 delays per day.

Since then, delays and cancelation numbers have remained high. On Tuesday, there were 57 delays at Boston's Logan Airport alone, with nine cancelations.

A professor of internal business and strategy at Northeastern University, Ravi Sarathy says cancellations, delays, and the increasing cost of flights will probably get worse before they get better. "Labor shortages and bad weather will continue to create turbulence in the industry," he says.

In a report by News@Northeastern, Sarathy explains that until the staffing shortage issue is fixed, travelers are going to continue to see increasing cancelations, lengthy delays, and brutal lines.

Two Patch readers who wished not to be identified said they spent over six hours on a tarmac in Paris while waiting to confirm if their plane was fully set to fly.

But a staffing shortage isn't the only issue tormenting the airline industry, as increasing fuel prices continue to plague commuters - they also make it harder for airlines to refuel their planes.

Though prices are starting to fall, jet fuel prices are still higher than they ever were before the pandemic. Last week, the jet fuel price went down 8.4 percent to $146.2/bbl - as opposed to

The jet fuel price ended last week down 8.4% at $146.2/bbl, but it is still 83.4 percent higher than it was last year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Another grueling issue behind severe airline delays is the weather. With summer comes summer storms, which create a spike in delays and cancelations every year, but the industry is continuing to see more of them this year as a smaller amount of planes mixed with a smaller staff leaves those working unable to come up with another plan. Sarathy told News@Northeastern that this may change as the weather starts to look better come late summer and early fall.