It’s a pain to fly these days. The FAA and airlines are trying to fix that
During a morning meeting in early May, staff at the federal air traffic command center rattle off a few of the day’s obstacles: storms near the Florida coast and in Texas, a military aircraft exercise, and a report of a bird strike at Newark Liberty International Airport. The center, about an hour’s drive from Washington, DC, is responsible for coordinating the complex web of more than 40,000 flights a day over the U.S. Shortly after 7 a.m. ET, there were already 3,500 flights in the air. During peak travel periods, that figure can climb to more than 5,000 flights at once. As air travel rebounds to near pre-Covid pandemic levels even as airlines remain understaffed, the agency and carriers are trying to control the rising rate of delays and cancellations that can ruin vacations and cost airlines tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The problems are coming during the high-demand spring and summer travel season, which also coincides with some of the most disruptive weather for airlines — thunderstorms. LaKisha Price, the air traffic manager at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center, said staff are monitoring potential problems in the nation’s airspace “every day, every hour.” The center is staffed 24/7. From the start of the year through June 13, airlines canceled 3% of the roughly 4 million commercial U.S. flights for that period, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Another 20% were delayed, with passengers waiting an average of 48 minutes. Over the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, 2% of flights were canceled and 17% delayed, with a similar average wait time, according to FlightAware.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-06-15/general/it2019s-a-pain-to-fly-these-days-the-faa-and-airlines-are-trying-to-fix-that
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/logo.png
It’s a pain to fly these days. The FAA and airlines are trying to fix that
During a morning meeting in early May, staff at the federal air traffic command center rattle off a few of the day’s obstacles: storms near the Florida coast and in Texas, a military aircraft exercise, and a report of a bird strike at Newark Liberty International Airport. The center, about an hour’s drive from Washington, DC, is responsible for coordinating the complex web of more than 40,000 flights a day over the U.S. Shortly after 7 a.m. ET, there were already 3,500 flights in the air. During peak travel periods, that figure can climb to more than 5,000 flights at once. As air travel rebounds to near pre-Covid pandemic levels even as airlines remain understaffed, the agency and carriers are trying to control the rising rate of delays and cancellations that can ruin vacations and cost airlines tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The problems are coming during the high-demand spring and summer travel season, which also coincides with some of the most disruptive weather for airlines — thunderstorms. LaKisha Price, the air traffic manager at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center, said staff are monitoring potential problems in the nation’s airspace “every day, every hour.” The center is staffed 24/7. From the start of the year through June 13, airlines canceled 3% of the roughly 4 million commercial U.S. flights for that period, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Another 20% were delayed, with passengers waiting an average of 48 minutes. Over the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, 2% of flights were canceled and 17% delayed, with a similar average wait time, according to FlightAware.<br/>
