Weather and staffing shortages were to blame for the delays with the airline promising better operations next month

Extreme weather in the U.S. has forced over 1,600 American Airlines flights to be cancelled over three days.

High winds and staffing shortages has affected one of its busiest hubs in Texas, with Southwest Airlines also cutting five per cent of its flights. 

All runways at Dallas/Fort Worth international airport were labelled to be out of order late last week.

This intensified the difficulty in positioning crew with 30 per cent of flights cancelled on Sunday.

This comes only a few weeks after Southwest Airlines faced similar issues, raising doubts about whether airlines are prepared for the busier holiday period.

Over 2,000 of its flights were disrupted in Florida due to wild weather and staff scarcity.

American Airlines Chief Operating Officer David Seymour says customers were able to be moved to alternative flights.

“To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights,” says Mr Seymour.

“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences.”

An American Airlines spokesperson predicted normal operations to resume on Monday, with some “residual impact from the weekend”.