America is in its third day of sweeping the nation—with United Airlines being the hardest hit. While it’s true, intense storms did hit the east coast, of delayed or cancelled flights.

These cancelations are, in fact, quite predictable. Everyone from , the and unions and flight attendants have been ever since airline travel began to pick up following the easing of COVID-19 lockdowns: There just aren’t enough bodies to keep planes in the air and on time.

We reported on data from the FAA last week which :

Between January of 2019 and February of 2023, 1.6 million were collectively delayed 5.3 million hours. That’s over 605 years worth of that were primarily caused by issues such as maintenance and crew problems, aircraft cleaning and baggage loading, according to the data.

points out that, despite a $54 million shot in the arm from the American taxpayer in COVID relief, airlines still dramatically slashed staff to the barest of bones. When travel began to pick up again, the airlines didn’t have the staff or aircraft to accommodate the influx of passengers. From CNN:

The result has been that domestic US airline capacity, as measured by the number of available seats adjusted for miles flown, is still down 10% in the current quarter compared to the second quarter of 2019, ahead of the pandemic, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.

And when problems occur, finding seats for passengers whose flights have been canceled becomes a problem, particularly at busy travel periods.

The FAA noted that a shortage of air traffic controllers in the northeast could cause chaos over the skies of . The agency even asked airlines to reduce the number of flights coming out of Newark, JFK and LaGuardia airports — three of the busiest airports in the U.S. While the administration was able to fill those jobs, folks training in something as complicated a air traffic control often take years to get up to speed, and that’s a long time to wait to fill crucial positions like those.

And being a pilot or flight attendant right now is no walk in the park. Many were driven out of the business by . Lockdowns also took a l, as there was less freedom to roam to new and exotic locales. A , much like the much lauded or the problems with trains, is a myth as well.

None of this bodes well for the next big travel holiday, which starts this weekend for the 4th of July. Traveling this weekend might prove to be as big a mess as . Just don’t blame it on the weather.