WASHINGTON: Airlines canceled 1,200 flights on Tuesday as air traffic control staffing improved significantly ahead of an expected end to a record-setting government shutdown as soon as Wednesday.
After airlines canceled 2,400 flights and delayed 9,600 on Monday, airlines delayed just 1,700 on Tuesday, the best performance for the industry in recent days.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut 4 percent of daily flights starting on Friday, November 7, at 40 major airports because of air traffic control staffing issues. Reductions in flights rose to 6 percent on Tuesday.
Flight reductions were set to hit 8 percent on Thursday and 10 percent on Friday, November 14. Airlines and the FAA are in discussions about when and how the cuts will be reduced and eventually eliminated as a record-setting 42-day government shutdown nears an end.
On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to dock the pay of any controller who did not return to work and would welcome the resignations of workers who were not diligent in showing up for work.
Some airlines are holding off on cutting 8 percent of flights for Thursday. United Airlines said Tuesday it has cut about 5 percent of Thursday flights.
Several options are being discussed for how the FAA might end or shrink the flight cuts, sources told Reuters.
Air traffic control staffing shortages improved dramatically on Tuesday after more than two dozen issues on Monday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said just four staffing issues were reported Tuesday, down from 81 Saturday.
Duffy said at a press conference at Chicago O’Hare that he will reduce flight cuts as safety allows.
“When that data changes, we’re going to start taking that down from 6 percent, maybe we’ll go to four, two, and get back to normal air travel,” Duffy said. “It depends on controllers coming back to work.”
On Monday night, the Senate voted to approve legislation to end the shutdown and fund the government through January 30. The House is set to take it up on Wednesday. Duffy said that if the House did not approve the bill that flight disruptions could skyrocket this weekend and some major airlines might not keep flying. “That’s how serious this is,” Duffy said.
Air traffic absences have led to tens of thousands of flight cancelations and delays since October 1 when the shutdown began. Over the weekend, 1.2 million passengers were delayed or had their flight cancelations due to air traffic controller absences.
The shutdown, the longest in US history, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
