Flight disruptions mounted Tuesday as severe storms and staffing issues kicked off a rocky begin to summer.
Roughly 3,000 U.S. flights were delayed as of midday Tuesday and one other 1,100 were canceled as thunderstorms that derailed 1000’s of trips over the weekend lingered. That is on top of greater than 8,800 U.S. delays and a pair of,246 cancellations Monday.
The disruptions come ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday travel period, when thousands and thousands are expected to fly. The Transportation Security Administration said it could screen more travelers than in 2019, before the pandemic, raising competition for spare seats.
The Biden administration has pressured airlines to enhance their operations after widespread flight disruptions last spring and summer, which prompted carriers to trim their overambitious schedules. However the industry struggled to get better this past weekend from a series of thunderstorms that did not let up for days.
Thunderstorms are difficult for airlines because they will form with less warning than other major weather obstacles like winter storms or hurricanes. Rolling delays could force crews to achieve federally mandated workday limits and further worsen disruptions.
Some airline executives have also blamed a few of the disruptions on shortages of air traffic controllers.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told staff on Monday that “the FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” He said that in Saturday’s storms the FAA reduced arrival rates by 40% and departures by 75% at Newark Liberty International Airport in Recent Jersey, certainly one of the airline’s biggest hubs.
“It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, in addition to crews and aircraft out of position,” Kirby wrote in a staff note, which was seen by CNBC. “And that put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening.”
An FAA spokesman said in an announcement, “We are going to all the time collaborate with anyone seriously willing to hitch us to unravel an issue.”
The staffing challenges aren’t latest. The Covid-19 pandemic derailed hiring and training of latest air traffic controllers, and the agency is now attempting to catch up.
The Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General said in a report last week that air traffic control staffing shortfalls put air traffic operations in danger. In March, the FAA and a few airlines agreed to scale back flights to assist ease congestion at busy Recent York airports due to staffing issues.
But the issues persist at a time when airlines are readying crews and schedules for a busy summer season, fueled by sustained travel demand.
And the disruptions frustrated flight crews who were left waiting on hold for reassignments.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents flight attendants at United and others said in a memo to members Monday that hold times for crew scheduling were longer than three hours.
“There’s an absolute recognition by Union leadership and Inflight management that something have to be done with the intention to permanently address these opposed situations resulting from irregular operations,” the union said.
In response to the union’s memo, United said it has “deployed all available resources to compensate for call volume, including increasing staffing in crew scheduling and mandatory extra time on the scheduling team.”
Recent York-based JetBlue Airways also faced high levels of flight delays over the past few days and acknowledged it may well improve the way it handles disruptions in a note to crew members Monday, which was reviewed by CNBC.
Don Uselmann, vice chairman of inflight experience at JetBlue, said the airline could have updated crew reporting times more efficiently so staff would not be waiting for flights and reducing wait times for hotel assignments.
“Summer peak is officially underway, and extreme weather events, ATC staffing constraints, and the resulting delays will put all airlines to the test,” he said in his note. “This weekend’s [irregular operation] won’t be our last, but the mixture of events put acute pressure on the operation and made it more difficult than most.”
