It could be up to 3 years before flight capacity and pilot supply are 'back in sync,' American Airlines CEO says

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner American Airlines aircraft near Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, on July 14th, 2022. Massimo Insabato/Getty Images

• American Airlines CEO on Thursday said it could be years before flight capacity returns to normal. 
• It may take a year for capacity to stabilize for the airline's main routes, CEO Robert Isom said.
• The airline recently canceled hundreds of summer flights amid an ongoing pilot shortage. 

The CEO of American Airlines on Thursday said it could be two to three years before flight capacity returns to normal amid an ongoing staffing and pilot shortage.

CEO Robert Isom told investors that demand for flights has surged up while the supply of staff and pilots is struggling to keep up, NBC News reported.

Isom said it would take approximately one year to get the airline's main flight routes back to full capacity and two to three years for the regional routes. 

"I think it's dependent on the supply chains of aircraft manufacturers and ultimately, pilot supply to get all back in sync," Isom said, per NBC. "From a regional perspective, it's just going to take a little bit longer than that, maybe 2 or 3 years, to kind of get the supply chain for pilots back to where we need it to be."

It comes after the airline canceled an additional 1,200 summer flights to minimize flight schedule disruptions, Insider previously reported. Allied Pilot Association, the union for American Airlines pilots, told its members that the airline was "once again acknowledging that they cannot honor their published schedule." 

Summer travel on the airline (and most others) has been wrought with cancellations, delays, and lost luggage. One family described a frantic phone call from their 10-year-old daughter who was traveling as an unaccompanied minor when American Airlines canceled her connecting flight without informing her parents. Another couple described their flight being canceled twice, leaving them stranded in Mexico. 

The airline recently offered pilots pay raises of up to $64,000 in an attempt to combat the shortage. Meanwhile, Allied Pilots union members are planning to picket in Chicago on July 26 to "send management a clear message" as they work to improve conditions for pilots.