Passengers wait at Newark Liberty International Airport as more than 2000 flights are canceled due to a storm nationwide in New Jersey, United States on June 27, 2023.
Fatih Aktas | Anadolu agent | beautiful pictures
Flight discontinuity rose Tuesday as severe storms and staffing problems kicked off a rough summer.
About 3,000 U.S. flights were delayed as of midday Tuesday, and another 1,100 were canceled due to prolonged thunderstorms that derailed thousands of flights over the weekend. That’s on top of a total of more than 8,800 delays in the US and 2,246 cancellations on Monday.
The disruption comes ahead of a busy travel period on July 4, when millions are expected to fly. The Transportation Security Administration said it was able to screen more travelers than in 2019, before the pandemic, increased competition for spare seats.
The Biden administration has pressured airlines to improve their operations after widespread flight disruption last spring and summer, prompting airlines to cut their overly ambitious schedules. But the industry struggled to recover this past weekend from a series of multi-day thunderstorms.
Thunderstorms make it difficult for airlines because they can form with less warning than other major weather obstacles like winter storms or hurricanes. Rolling delays could force teams to reach federally mandated business day limits and exacerbate disruptions.
Some airline executives also blamed some of the disruption on a lack of air traffic controllers.
unified airline Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby told employees on Monday that “the FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” He said that during Saturday’s storm, the FAA reduced arrival rates by 40% and departures by 75% at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the airline’s largest hubs.
“It resulted in major delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crew and aircraft leaving location,” Kirby wrote in an employee note, seen by CNBC. “And that left everyone behind the eight ball when the weather really hit on Sunday and was exacerbated by the FAA’s staffing shortage on Sunday night.”
An FAA spokesman said in a statement: “We will always work with anyone seriously willing to join us to resolve the issue.”
HR challenges are not new. The Covid-19 pandemic has damaged the recruitment and training of new air traffic controllers, and the agency is now trying to catch up.
The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation said in a report last week that a shortage of air traffic controllers put air traffic operations at risk. In March, the FAA and several airlines agreed reduced flight to help ease congestion at busy New York airports because of staffing issues.
But problems persist at a time when airlines are preparing crews and schedules for a busy summer, fueled by constant travel demand.
And the disruption frustrated crews who were waiting to be reassigned.
The Flight Attendants Association-CWA, which represents flight attendants at United and others, said in a memo to members on Monday that crew scheduling times are more than three hour.
“The Union leadership and the flight management have absolutely recognized that something needs to be done to permanently address these adverse situations caused by unusual activities,” the union said.
based in New York Blue Airways Jets also faced a high level of flight delays over the past few days and acknowledged it could improve how it handled the disruption in a note to crew members on Monday, reviewed by CNBC.
Don Uselmann, JetBlue’s vice president of in-flight experience, said the airline could have updated crew reporting times more efficiently so employees don’t have to wait for flights and cut down time. waiting for hotel assignment.
“High summer is officially underway and extreme weather events, ATC staffing limitations and the resulting delays will put all airlines to the test,” he said in the note. mine. “This weekend [irregular operation] It won’t be our last, but the combination of events put a lot of pressure on the operation and made it more difficult than most.”
