By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ 🙂 announced on Sunday that it will reduce its summer schedule to avoid flight disruptions and increase staffing.

CNBC reported that a JetBlue spokesman had confirmed to staff Saturday’s email that JetBlue “already decreased May capacity by 8-10%, and we can expect to see the same size capacity draw for the remainder of summer.”

As they plan for a spike in summer travel demand, U.S. airlines have been aggressively increasing their hiring. Numerous major U.S. airlines had to cancel flights due to weather-related disruptions since September.

According to the airline, New York’s New York-based said that they anticipate continuing industry problems and high demand through the summer. They are therefore planning more conservatively.

JetBlue cancelled 148 flights on Sunday, 13% of the schedule, and delayed 39%, according to FlightAware. This was after it had cancelled 18% of Saturday’s flights and delayed 48%.

Airline added, “To get our operation back in order this week and to provide additional recovery options for potential April weather events,” that they had cancelled some flights and made a slight schedule adjustment throughout the month.

JetBlue claimed that even though it hired over 3,000 more crew members for 2022, the company was “staffing constrained”. These disruptions would only worsen an already complicated staffing environment. JetBlue stated that it is adding hundreds of crewmembers every week to prepare for summer travel.

JetBlue made an unannounced offer last week of $33 per share to purchase a cash-only stock. Spirit Airlines (NYSE:) This bid surpasses the near $25 per share, cash-and stock offer made by Frontier Group Holdings in February. Spirit stated Thursday it was ready to start negotiations with JetBlue about its $3.6 Billion offer.