Continental Cancels Flights For Lack Of Crew

If you're scheduled to fly Continental Airlines out of Newark, N.J., today, better check to make sure you haven't been grounded. The airline has cancelled at least 24 flights in the last 24 hours.

The airline said most of the affected fights were scheduled to depart from Newark, but had to be scrubbed when a number of pilots and other flight crew called in sick.

You may remember that Continental was recently acquired by and merged with United Airlines and talks have been going on for some time with the unions representing Continental employees. Industry analysts said the schedule disruption might be an indication the talks aren't going particularly well, or simply may be the result of a staffing shortage.

The industry publication Aviation Week suggests the problem  at Newark was, in fact, caused by an apparent sick-out.

“Few details are available and United Continental Holdings is not blaming the 24 dropped flights on any work action, but canceling flights this late in the month because crews are unavailable usually indicates that pilots have orchestrated the problem,” the publication reported.

Continental, meanwhile, said it is working to book affected passengers on other flights. On its website, it makes no mention of any scheduling problems on its page for “Today's Operations.”