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Tag: Air travel disruptions

  • FAA expected to list airports getting reduced flights during government shutdown

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    Travelers through some of the busiest U.S. airports can expect to learn Thursday whether they’ll see fewer flights as the government shutdown drags into a second month.The Federal Aviation Administration will announce the “high-volume markets” where it is reducing flights by 10% before the cuts go into effect Friday, said agency administrator Bryan Bedford. The move is intended to keep the air space safe during the shutdown, the agency said.Experts predict hundreds, if not thousands, of flights could be canceled.“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, Bedford said Wednesday at a news conference.“We can’t ignore it,” he said, adding that even if the shutdown ends before Friday, the FAA wouldn’t automatically resume normal operations until staffing improves and stabilizes.Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined during the news conference to name the cities and airports where they will slow air traffic, saying they wanted to first meet with airline executives to figure out how to safely implement the reductions.Major airlines, aviation unions and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system and “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement.Duffy warned on Tuesday that there could be chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags on long enough for air traffic controllers to miss their second full paycheck next week.Duffy said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more. And he has said some controllers are even struggling to pay for transportation to work.Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.During weekends from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.___Associated Press journalist Christopher L. Keller contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

    Travelers through some of the busiest U.S. airports can expect to learn Thursday whether they’ll see fewer flights as the government shutdown drags into a second month.

    The Federal Aviation Administration will announce the “high-volume markets” where it is reducing flights by 10% before the cuts go into effect Friday, said agency administrator Bryan Bedford. The move is intended to keep the air space safe during the shutdown, the agency said.

    Experts predict hundreds, if not thousands, of flights could be canceled.

    “I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”

    Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.

    Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, Bedford said Wednesday at a news conference.

    “We can’t ignore it,” he said, adding that even if the shutdown ends before Friday, the FAA wouldn’t automatically resume normal operations until staffing improves and stabilizes.

    Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined during the news conference to name the cities and airports where they will slow air traffic, saying they wanted to first meet with airline executives to figure out how to safely implement the reductions.

    Major airlines, aviation unions and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.

    The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system and “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement.

    Duffy warned on Tuesday that there could be chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags on long enough for air traffic controllers to miss their second full paycheck next week.

    Duffy said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more. And he has said some controllers are even struggling to pay for transportation to work.

    Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.

    But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.

    From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.

    During weekends from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Christopher L. Keller contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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  • Thanksgiving travel rush is back with some new habits

    Thanksgiving travel rush is back with some new habits

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    The Thanksgiving travel rush was back on this year, as people caught planes in numbers not seen in years, setting aside inflation concerns to reunite with loved ones and enjoy some normalcy after two holiday seasons marked by COVID-19 restrictions.

    Changing habits around work and play, however, might spread out the crowds and reduce the usual amount of holiday travel stress. Experts say many people will start holiday trips early or return home later than normal because they will spend a few days working remotely — or at least tell the boss they’re working remotely.

    The busiest travel days during Thanksgiving week are usually Tuesday, Wednesday and the Sunday after the holiday. This year, the Federal Aviation Administration expects Tuesday to be the busiest travel day with roughly 48,000 scheduled flights.

    Chris Williams, of Raleigh, North Carolina, flew Tuesday morning with his wife and two kids to Atlanta, Georgia, to spend the holiday with extended family.

    “Of course it’s a stressful and expensive time to fly,” said Williams, 44, who works in finance. “But after a couple years of not getting to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family, I’d say we’re feeling thankful that the world’s gotten to a safe enough place where we can be with loved ones again.”

    Although Williams said the family’s budget has been tight this year, he’s capitalized on the opportunity to teach his kids some personal finance basics. His youngest, 11, has been learning how to budget her allowance money since March and is excited to buy small gifts for her friends on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. “Probably slime,” she said, “with glitter.”

    The Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 2.3 million travelers on Tuesday, down from more than 2.4 million screened the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in 2019. On Monday, the numbers were up versus 2019 — more than 2.6 million travelers compared with 2.5 million. That same trend occurred Sunday, marking the first year that the number of people catching planes on Thanksgiving week surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

    “People are traveling on different days. Not everyone is traveling on that Wednesday night,” says Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president at the trade group Airlines for America. “People are spreading their travel out throughout the week, which I also think will help ensure smoother operations.”

    AAA predicts that 54.6 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home in the U.S. this week, a 1.5% bump over Thanksgiving last year and only 2% less than in 2019. The auto club and insurance seller says nearly 49 million of those will travel by car, and 4.5 million will fly between Wednesday and Sunday.

    U.S. airlines struggled to keep up as the number of passengers surged this year.

    “We did have a challenging summer,” said Pinkerton, whose group speaks for members including American, United and Delta. She said that airlines have pared their schedules and hired thousands of workers — they now have more pilots than before the pandemic. “As a result, we’re confident that the week is going to go well.”

    U.S. airlines plan to operate 13% fewer flights this week than during Thanksgiving week in 2019. However, by using larger planes on average, the number of seats will drop only 2%, according to data from travel-researcher Cirium.

    Airlines continue to blame flight disruptions on shortages of air traffic controllers, especially in Florida, a major holiday destination.

    Controllers, who work for the Federal Aviation Administration, “get tested around the holidays. That seems to be when we have challenges,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said a few days ago. “The FAA is adding another 10% to headcount, hopefully that’s enough.”

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has disputed such claims, saying that the vast majority of delays and cancellations are caused by the airlines themselves.

    TSA expects airports to be busier than last year and probably about on par with 2019. The busiest day in TSA’s history came on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2019, when nearly 2.9 million people were screened at airport checkpoints.

    Stephanie Escutia, traveling with four children, her husband and her mother, said it took the family four hours to get through checking and security at the Orlando airport early Tuesday. The family was returning to Kansas City in time for Thanksgiving after a birthday trip to Disney World.

    “We were surprised at how full the park was,” said Escutia, 32. “We thought it might be down some but it was packed.”

    She welcomed the sense of normalcy, and said her family would be gathering for Thanksgiving without worrying about keeping their distance this year. “Now we are back to normal and looking forward to a nice holiday,” she said.

    People getting behind the wheel or boarding a plane don’t seem fazed by higher gasoline and airfare prices than last year or the widespread concern about inflation and the economy. That is already leading to predictions of strong travel over Christmas and New Year’s.

    “This pent-up demand for travel is still a real thing. It doesn’t feel like it’s going away,” says Tom Hall, a vice president and longtime writer for Lonely Planet, the publisher of travel guides. “That’s keeping planes full, that’s keeping prices high.”

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    Associated Press writers Hannah Schoenbaum in Raleigh, North Carolina, Margaret Stafford in Kansas City and AP video journalist Terence Chea in Oakland, California contributed to this report.

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    David Koenig can be reached at twitter.com/airlinewriter

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  • Strong quake injures dozens, shuts north Philippine airport

    Strong quake injures dozens, shuts north Philippine airport

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    MANILA, Philippines — A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of the northern Philippines, injuring at least 26 people and forcing the closure of an international airport and the evacuation of patients in a hospital, officials said Wednesday.

    The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Tuesday night’s magnitude 6.4 quake, which was set off by movement in a local fault, was centered 9 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of Lagayan town in Abra province at a depth of 11 kilometers (7 miles).

    The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said no warning or advisory was issued.

    The quake was felt across a wide area of the main northern Luzon region, including in some parts of metropolitan Manila, more than 400 kilometers (248 miles) south of Abra.

    At least 26 people were injured in Ilocos Norte, the home province of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., where the international airport in the capital city of Laoag was ordered to close temporarily Wednesday due to damage from the quake, police and civil aviation officials said.

    In Batac city also in Ilocos Norte, patients were moved out of the province’s largest hospital after parts of the ceiling in the intensive care unit fell as the building swayed. Medical consultation services were temporarily suspended as engineers assessed damage to the building, officials said.

    Marcos Jr, who was in Manila, said authorities were inspecting roads and buildings, and welfare officials were providing help to affected residents in northern provinces. “Everyone is advised to keep out of tall structures,” the president said in a tweet.

    In the town of La Paz in Abra, a century-old Christian church was damaged, with parts of its belfry collapsing and some walls cracked, littering the church’s grassy yard with debris, officials said.

    At least two towns in Cagayan province temporarily lost electricity due to damaged power lines. A number of bridges and roads in outlying provinces were damaged.

    In July, a magnitude 7 earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in Abra and other northern provinces, killing at least five people and injuring dozens.

    In 1990, a magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines and wrought extensive damage, including in the capital city of Manila.

    The Philippine archipelago lies on the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.

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  • Pilots at Germany’s Eurowings start 3-day strike

    Pilots at Germany’s Eurowings start 3-day strike

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    Pilots at Eurowings, the German airline Lufthansa’s budget subsidiary, have started their second strike this month in a dispute over working conditions

    BERLIN — Pilots at Eurowings, German airline Lufthansa’s budget subsidiary, have started their second strike this month in a dispute over working conditions.

    The Vereinigung Cockpit union called pilots out on a three-day strike starting Monday morning.

    Despite the walkout, Eurowings said it expected more than 230 of Monday’s planned 400 services to go ahead as usual. Flights operated by Austrian subsidiary Eurowings Europe and by Eurowings Discover, which flies from Frankfurt and Munich, weren’t affected.

    At Duesseldorf airport, however, 102 of the day’s scheduled 171 Eurowings flights were canceled, German news agency dpa reported.

    Pilots are asking for the maximum number of flying hours to be reduced. They previously staged a one-day strike on Oct. 6. Eurowings described the latest strike as disproportionate and irresponsible.

    Strikes at parent company Lufthansa were called off last month after the airline and union reached a pay deal to address the effects of inflation.

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  • Pilot sues Southwest after colleague exposes himself

    Pilot sues Southwest after colleague exposes himself

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Southwest Airlines pilot is suing the company, her union and a former colleague who pleaded guilty last year to dead-bolting the cockpit door during a flight and stripping naked in front of her.

    Christine Janning alleges that Southwest retaliated by grounding her after she reported Michael Haak to the company and the FBI, that it kept him employed despite an alleged history of sexual misconduct and that managers disparaged her in memos.

    She also alleges that the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association conspired with the airline and refused to support her. She is suing Haak for sexual assault. He pleaded guilty last year to a federal misdemeanor charge of committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act and was sentenced to probation.

    Haak’s attorney, Michael Salnick, said Wednesday that his client disrobed only after Janning encouraged him to, never did anything else and that there were no previous incidents. Southwest said it supported Janning and that it would “vigorously defend” itself against the lawsuit. The union did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

    The Associated Press doesn’t normally identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes, but Janning through her attorney agreed to the use of her name.

    According to the lawsuit filed last week in Orange County, Florida, Janning had never met Haak before August 2020, when she was his co-pilot on a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando. She says Haak, a 27-year veteran of the airline, had used his seniority rights the previous day to bump another pilot who had been scheduled to command the flight. Janning believes that’s because he saw a woman was the scheduled co-pilot.

    Janning said that when they reached cruising altitude, Haak told her this was his final flight and there was something he wanted to do before retirement.

    She said he bolted the door so no flight attendant could enter. He then put the plane on autopilot, stripped off his clothes, began watching pornography on his laptop and committed a lewd act for 30 minutes while taking photos and videos of himself.

    Salnick said it was Janning who asked Haak if there was anything he wanted to do before retiring. When he replied he wanted to fly naked, she told him to go ahead and then made sexual advances after he disrobed, Salnick said. He said Haak rejected those and adamantly denied a lewd act occurred.

    At his sentencing hearing last year, Haak called the incident “a consensual prank” that got out of hand.

    Janning’s attorney, Frank Podesta, denied she encouraged Haak or made any advances.

    Janning said in the lawsuit that she was “horrified,” but she kept flying the plane while taking photos “to create a record.” The plane landed safely.

    And that wasn’t Haak’s final flight — he flew for three more weeks.

    Meanwhile, Janning didn’t report the incident to a Southwest employee relations investigator until three months later. She said she waited because her boss had disparaged her to a male colleague previously. She said she asked the investigator not to inform her boss, but she did.

    Janning says she was soon told that because Haak had retired, the airline’s investigation was closed. Janning then went to the FBI, which charged Haak. She alleges Southwest had sent Haak to a Montreal sexual harassment counseling center after a 2008 incident involving a flight attendant.

    Salnick says this incident never happened and Haak was never sent to a counseling center.

    “This person will do and say whatever is necessary to obtain a financial windfall. I feel sorry for her,” Salnick said.

    Janning said as retaliation for the FBI report, she was grounded for more than three months, costing her part of her salary. She was then required to take “unnecessary” flight simulator training before she could work again.

    She also said that on the day she was grounded, the airline stranded her in Denver and the FBI had to book her a United Airlines flight so she could return home to Florida. She said a Southwest manager sent a memo to more than 25 employees “that made baseless allegations” about her flying competency.

    Southwest denied Janning’s allegations, saying “we immediately supported (Janning) by cooperating with the appropriate outside agencies as they investigated.”

    “Our corporate Culture is built upon treating others with mutual respect and dignity, and the events alleged in this situation are inconsistent with the behavior that we require of our Employees,” the statement read.

    Janning said that when she contacted the union, its leaders did nothing to help her but did write a letter to Haak’s judge during his misdemeanor case saying he had a “spotless” record.

    No hearings have been scheduled.

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  • FBI: Jetliner evacuated in Albuquerque after security threat

    FBI: Jetliner evacuated in Albuquerque after security threat

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An American Airlines flight from Texas to New Mexico was evacuated Sunday after landing at the Albuquerque airport because of a security threat, authorities said.

    All 179 people aboard Flight 928 from Dallas-Fort Worth were taken off the jet in the morning at Albuquerque International Sunport and were bused to the terminal, airport officials said. No injuries were reported.

    FBI officials in Albuquerque did not disclose the nature of the security threat but said that the matter was being investigated and that no other information was available.

    American Airlines passengers flying out of the airport were expected to see flight delays while the episode is investigated, airport officials said.

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