United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL)’s Continental Airlines unit canceled 24 flights today because of crew shortages, mostly from the carrier’s hub at New Jersey’s Newark airport.
A so-called sickout left the airline with too few pilots to fly its schedule, the Click2Houston.com news website reported. Megan McCarthy, a United Continental spokeswoman, gave the flight totals and locations by telephone while saying the airline wasn’t speculating on the cause of the shortage.
Continental’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association union has said that it has a shortfall of at least 200 pilots, and that its members had to fly extra trips to cover the schedule. A union spokeswoman, Amy Flanagan, declined to comment on the flight cancellations.
