SAVE - Airlines pull back as flight cancellations keep piling up

Airline shares finish broadly lower after COVID-driven staffing issues and winter weather problems in parts of the U.S. cause a potential fifth straight day of flight cancellations. WSJ reports U.S. cancellations rose to ~900 by midday, citing tracking service FlightAware, with more than 400 already scrubbed for tomorrow and following nearly 1,300 cancellations yesterday. Delta Air Lines (DAL -1.2%) said it expects to cancel ~250 of its 4,158 scheduled flights today, matching yesterday's cancellations but better than the 374 flights scrubbed on Monday. Alaska Airlines (ALK -1.4%) asked fliers to postpone non-essential travel until next year, canceling 20% of the flights from its major Seattle hub over the next two days to allow more time it takes to deice aircraft, a requirement during winter weather. Also: AAL -2.6%, SAVE -2.4%, HA -2.2%, JBLU -2%, UAL -1.8%. ETF: JETS Seattle-Tacoma has been the hardest-hit U.S. airport, but Newark Liberty, Chicago O’Hare

For further details see:

Airlines pull back as flight cancellations keep piling up