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| Photo Credit: AP. |
American airlines that are experiencing widespread flight disruptions due to capacity strain as the summer holidays set in are seeking to shift blame to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The airlines
are saying that the understaffing of the FAA is “crippling” traffic along the
East Coast, The Associated Press reports. The FAA is responsible for managing
the nation’s airspace.
Airlines for
America said on Friday it wants to know FAA’s staffing plans for the July
Fourth holiday weekend, “so we can plan accordingly,” according to The
Associated Press. Airlines for America represent the largest U.S. carriers.
The
statement is coming one week after U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
said his department could act in consumers’ defense if there is widespread
cancellation of flights.
Buttigieg
who met with airline leaders Thursday last week to express concerns about
widespread flight cancellations said the flight disruptions is happening to a
lot of people and hence the government was paying close attention.
Mr Buttigieg
said he is pushing the airlines to stress-test their summer schedules to ensure
they can operate all their planned flights with the employees they have, and to
add customer-service workers,
But it
appears the comment from the industry group is intended to give them a soft
landing should it suffer thousands of canceled and delayed flights over the holiday
weekend.
“The
industry is actively and nimbly doing everything possible to create a positive
customer experience since it is in an airline’s inherent interest to keep
customers happy, so they return for future business,” Nicholas Calio, president
of the trade group, said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg,
according to The Associated Press.
Calo
reportedly said the airlines have dropped 15% of the flights they originally
planned for June through August to make the remaining flights more reliable,
adding that they are hiring and training
more pilots and customer-service agents, and giving passengers more flexibility
to change travel plans.
Air traffic
is often disrupted “for many hours” because bad weather causes the FAA to issue
delays, said Calo, according to The Associated Press.
“However, we
have also observed that FAA (air traffic control) staffing challenges have led
to traffic restrictions under blue sky conditions,” he added.
“People
expect when they buy an airline ticket that they’ll get where they need to go
safely, efficiently, reliably and affordably,” the FAA said in a statement,
according to The Associated Press. “After receiving $54 billion in pandemic
relief to help save the airlines from mass layoffs and bankruptcy, the American
people deserve to have their expectations met.”
The FAA also
sought to reassure that it had added controllers in high-traffic areas and
added alternate routes to keep planes moving.