The chaos at U.S. airlines continues with more than 1,700 cancellations and 5,000 delays, despite signs that the shutdown will soon end.
Cancellations and delays continue to hurt airline passengers across the country, even as the Senate signals that the U.S. government shutdown could soon end.
The average delay at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Thursday was one hour and 16 minutes. At Chicago O’Hare Airport, delays average 44 minutes. According to FlightAware, a platform that monitors flight delays and cancellations around the world, travelers wait an average of 46 minutes at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The platform said there were at least 1,700 cancellations and more than 5,000 delays across all U.S. international and domestic flights on Thursday.
American Airlines, one of the nation’s largest passenger airlines, said weekend flight cancellations affected 250,000 customers.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing major airlines, said staffing issues have disrupted the travel plans of more than 4 million passengers since the grounding began Oct. 1.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered airlines to reduce the number of daily flights at 40 major airports by 4% starting last week, citing concerns about air traffic control safety. The reduction rate reached 6% on Tuesday and is required to reach 10% by November 14th.
air traffic control pressure
President Donald Trump on Monday called on air traffic controllers to return to work at U.S. airports. President Trump said the government would garnish the paychecks of workers who did not report to work during the shutdown.
“ALL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS MUST RETURN TO JOB NOW!!! Those who don’t will effectively be ‘grounded’,” President Trump posted on social media. “Please report to work immediately.”
The US president said he would reward those who continued working despite not receiving a paycheck during the 41-day shutdown. He also said he would give $10,000 to every air traffic controller who showed up, but it wasn’t clear where that money would come from.
Last week, FAA Administrator Brian Bedford said between 20% and 40% of air traffic controllers at the nation’s 30 largest airports have not worked on any given day since the shutdown began.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that staffing issues worsened over the weekend, making Saturday the worst staffing day since the shutdown began.
On Sunday, the FAA also announced it would suspend general aviation flights at 12 major U.S. airports. These include Washington Reagan Airport (not Dulles Airport), Chicago O’Hare Airport (not Midway Airport), Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (not Hobby Airport), Denver, Seattle, and Boston.
The new directive builds on an earlier directive to reduce general aviation operations by up to 10 percent at “high-impact airports.” As Al Jazeera reported last week, this comes amid calls for the suspension of commercial business air travel.
Supporters say the weekend’s developments are not enough.
“We can easily find the capacity we need by closing the top 25 commercial airports, many of which are within driving distance of the affected commercial airports,” Erica Payne, president of Patriotic Millionaires, an advocacy group for wealthy people who work to build a more just economy, told Al Jazeera on Monday following our initial report.
“They (FAA) should cancel all private jet travel.”
Al Jazeera has contacted the Ministry of Transport and asked for clarity on the timeline for returning to normal operations after the closure ends and the logistics needed to do so.
Representatives from the agency responded to our request for comment but did not respond to our questions seeking clarification on the timeline or plans. Rather, rather than insight into solutions, the agency provided us with a series of links, including Twitter posts and videos blaming Democrats and claiming there is a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Airline stocks have been hurt on Wall Street. American Airlines stock has fallen more than 2% since the market opened. Chicago-based United Airlines also fell 0.3%. Delta Air Lines is relatively balanced because the market is open.
Low-cost carrier Alaska Airlines fell more than 0.7% and JetBlue Airways fell 0.5%. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is the only major airline in positive territory. As of 2:30 pm in New York (7:30 pm Japan time), the stock was up 0.4%.
