Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that the blame leveled at the Federal Aviation Administration by airline companies over flight cancellations around the busy July Fourth holiday is misplaced.
He said cancellation rates were below 2% and pushed back against airline executives who have said the FAA is dropping the ball because of a lack of air traffic controllers.
“Let me be very clear, that even according to the industry’s own data, air traffic control staffing issues account for less than 10% of the delay minutes in the system, but, I would rather that number be zero,” Mr. Buttigieg said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Even though this isn’t the No. 1 cause or even the No. 2 cause of flight disruptions, it is something that is very important to tackle, and we’re doing exactly that. We’re hiring 1,500 new air traffic controllers this year. Our plan is to hire another 1,800 traffic controllers next year.”
The Department of Transportation’s inspector general recently said the FAA has no real proposal to fix a lack of air traffic controllers in busy flight regions like Miami and New York.
Mr. Buttigieg said the issue is complex and that Congress could help by passing the FAA’s reauthorization bill.
“We’re also working on staffing models that can better address the needs on the ground, and cooperating where possible and where appropriate with airlines on things that can make better use of the same national airspace,” he said. “Remember, we have the most complex national airspace in the world. But there are things we can do to manage it more efficiently.”
“Whether we’re talking about day-to-day ops and tactics, or whether we’re talking about the bigger picture of staffing air traffic control for the future, we’re moving very aggressively on that,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “And now’s the time for these conversations, because the FAA reauthorization bill, which will cover the next five years, is moving through the Senate as we speak.”
Severe weather led to thousands of canceled and delayed flights last week, but Americans continue to be plagued with travel woes. Some airlines have put the blame on the FAA for poor planning during the busy holiday travel period.
From June 29 to July 5, the Transportation Security Administration expects to handle nearly 18 million travelers.
On Sunday, there were nearly 4,400 flight delays within, into or out of the U.S. and 551 cancellations, according to the industry monitoring site FlightAware.
United had many of them, including 100 canceled flights and 481 delayed. The number of delays equated to 18% of their total flights. JetBlue had 45 cancelations and 209 delays, the latter of which was 20% of their flights.
Executives at both companies have said frustrated passengers have FAA staffing shortages to thank.
“The FAA frankly failed us this weekend,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a memo to staff last week, referring to major weather-related delays and cancellations in the New York City area.
He said the FAA reducing arrival rates crippled the industry last weekend.
“This is almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA,” Mr. Kirby said. “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.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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