Air Do announced that it will cancel 26 flights in February due to shortage of 737 pilots. It is the second time the airline made such decision, since the airline also cancelled 34 flights this month for the same reason.
The airline has also announced that it plans to operate all flights in December 2017, January 2018 and March 2018 as originally planned.
Heavy Maintenance of 767 and a 737 Pilot Shortage
Currently, one of Air Do’s 767s is undergoing heavy maintenance requiring the airline to increase the use of its fleet of nine 737-700s.
However, with a couple of the airline’s 737 pilots leaving over the last couple of months, the airline was forced to cancel 34 flights on its Tokyo – Sapporo and Sapporo – Sendai routes this month.
The airline is looking to hire pilots and expediting the captain training of some of its first officers. In spite of that – and of planning to operate as scheduled over the next two months – Air Do made the decision to cancel 26 flights in February.
Unlike this month, only the Tokyo – Sapporo route is expected to be affected. And, the cancellations are expected to take place between February 1 and February 7, 2018.
Given the fairly long notice – and the fact that Air Do has multiple daily flights between the two cities, and most of other Japanese carriers operate on it as well – the cancellations should not cause too much trouble to passengers.
Whether there will be any cancellations from April 2018 onwards remains to be seen.
