Flight chaos after US airline aid prompts lawmaker inquiry

Two leading House lawmakers are calling on US airlines to explain the series of flight disruptions earlier this year that occurred in spite of the government’s $50b in aid to limit industry layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, and the committee’s top Republican, Sam Graves of Missouri, in a letter dated Wednesday asked the industry trade group Airlines for America whether carriers had enough staffing to handle this season’s holiday traffic. The inquiry comes on the heels of a similar effort by the Senate Commerce Committee, which tentatively asked chief executives of the seven largest airlines to attend a Dec. 8 hearing. While acknowledging the challenges carriers have faced as a result of the pandemic, DeFazio and Graves said they expected airlines to “take whatever measures are available” to address staffing issues. “As you know, travelers don’t care why their flight is delayed,” DeFazio and Graves said in the letter. “They care just that it’s delayed.” <br/>