INDEPENDENCE ‘STAY’ AIR WOE
1,000s of flyers stranded for holiday
Don’t count on those Fourth of July plans taking off.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers are still enduring canceled and delayed flights this week — sparking chaos on what is expected to be the busiest July 4 travel weekend in history.
Nearly 5,000 US flights were either canceled or delayed Thursday afternoon — which the Federal Aviation Administration predicted would be the heaviest travel day over the July 4 holiday period, with more than 52,500 total flights.
Since Monday, more than 28,000 US flights have been delayed — 8,850 on Monday alone — with more than 6,000 canceled, according to FlightAware data.
On Wednesday, more than 8,400 flights across the country were either delayed or canceled.
New York’s major airports have led the way each day, with La Guardia and Newark taking the top two spots, followed by JFK on all but Wednesday.
It is not just a US problem, with an average of more than 30,000 international flights delayed each day this week. And as of Saturday, planes that aren’t outfitted with new radio altimeters — devices measuring height — won’t be allowed to fly in limited visibility because of potential interference from new 5G wireless service.
Blame game
United CEO Scott Kirby blamed the debacle on “understaffing/ lower experience” at the FAA in a memo to staff earlier this week.
“It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position. And that put everyone behind the eight-ball when weather did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening,” he lamented.
The FAA responded to Kirby’s comments in their own memo, which stated they “will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.”
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was quick to brush the widespread frustration under the rug at an unrelated event on Wednesday.
“I think it reflects the airlines stepping up. I want to give them credit where credit is due. But clearly there’s a long way to go,” he said, while insisting that weather was still the major culprit behind the widespread interruptions.
All of this comes as AAA projects 50.7 million Americans will travel this holiday period — an alltime record.
“We’ve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel.
That is expected to be up more than 2 million over last year and nearly 2 million more than the record of 49 million set in 2019.
Recent flight woes can be blamed on several problems, including internal miscommunications, staff shortages and strife between the FAA and airlines.
Airlines across the US were not able to recover quickly from the severe weather over the weekend due to lingering staffing shortages from the pandemic.
Most airlines made serious staff cuts in the early months of the COVID–19 pandemic, according to CNN. Rehiring to meet the renewed demand over three years later has taken longer than expected.