American Airlines cancels, delays more than 1,400 Sunday flights due to weather, 'tight' staffing

American Airlines has canceled more than 1,500 flights over Halloween weekend, pointing to weather disruptions in Texas and tight staffing.

After canceling nearly 550 flights on Saturday, the Texas-based carrier on Sunday canceled more than 1,000 flights and delayed more than 400 flights, according to flight tracker Flight Aware.

In a Saturday letter to staff shared with USA TODAY, American Airlines said the cancellations were caused by two days of severe winds in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“This weather drove a large number of cancellations at DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport), as we could only use two runways instead of the usual five that handle our operation,” the letter says. “With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of the regular flight sequences.”

The carrier said it proactively canceled some flights to "make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews.”

Some passengers took to social media to voice their frustration.

Most of the customers impacted by the cancellations were rebooked the same day, according to the airline.

American also noted that it would have more staff available in the coming days, with nearly 1,800 flight attendants returning from leave starting Nov. 1 and more than 600 new hires by the end of December. Another 4,000 new workers are expected to join between October and December.

Contributing: Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY. Follow USA TODAY reporter Bailey Schulz on Twitter: @bailey_schulz.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American Airline cancels, delays hundreds of Halloween weekend flights