American Airlines plans to cancel 80 flights a day for the rest of June because of bad weather and a labor shortage

• American Airlines told Fox News it expected to cancel about 80 flights a day for the rest of June.
• The airline said it would also cancel about 1% of flights in July.
• American said it faced a staff shortage and bad weather across its hubs.

American Airlines on Monday told Fox News it expected to cancel about 80 flights a day through June.

That was up from the airline's previous statement to ABC News, which said it might cancel at least 60 flights a day for the rest of the month.

American also told Fox News it would adjust a "fraction" of its flight schedules in July by canceling about 1% of its daily operation in that month.

The airline had first given The Wall Street Journal the 1% figure in reference to the first half of July. It said it would help manage the surge in travel demand as labor shortages and bad weather disrupt operations at some of its hubs.

An American representative told The Journal the flight cancellations would bring "additional resilience and certainty" to summer operations.

The company said in a statement to Reuters that the schedule adjustments would "help ensure we can take good care of our customers and team members and minimize surprises at the airport."

The airline said its cancellations were targeted at affecting the smallest number of customers "by adjusting flights in markets where we have multiple options for reaccommodation."

American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights last weekend - 123 on Saturday and 178 on Sunday as well as 97 on Monday - while citing staffing shortages and maintenance issues.

Airlines and other transportation operators have seen a quick increase in demand in recent weeks as travel restrictions eased and more people got vaccinated for COVID-19.

According to data from the US Transportation Security Administration, nearly 50 million airport passengers were registered in May, up 19% from April. So far in June, the TSA has registered nearly 35 million air passengers.

American Airlines said the higher demand also came at a time when bad weather caused hours-long delays over the past few weeks, disrupting flight and crew work hours.