The reduction of air movements is triggered to maintain minimum safety standards. Connections within the country were particularly affected. Air traffic controllers have been working without pay for over a month
Around 700 flights have been canceled at the main 40 airports in the United States, over 3% of those scheduled, on what is the first day of reduction in air movements due to the shutdown which forces controllers in the towers working for over a month without paywhile in the radar centers many call in sick. But it’s just an appetizer. Why canceled departures will progressively rise to 10% next weekendmore than doubling cancellations across the country and as the true peak period approaches: Thanksgiving in late November.
The announcement
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For the whole thing US airlines on Thursday 6 November they tried to understand in detail the measures announced the day before by the US Department of Transportation and the FAA. The US government had to intervene, reducing the movements, because worried that too many absences among flight controllers and the increased risk of air disasters in the country. Only in the evening, a few hours after the cancellations began, were the carriers able to draw up the list of canceled departures.
Where are the cancellations
At the moment it is about filings on domestic flights, between small towns and large citiesbut without affecting the important flows towards the hubs and above all the intercontinental connections. U.S. carriers are also reducing frequencies, trying to maintain routes that feature few flights each day. They are also foreign carriers that can continue with their programming are excluded from the cuts.
The individual companies
American Airlines Friday 7 November plans to cancel a total of 235 flights, Delta Air Lines 149, Southwest 121, United Airlines 112, JetBlue 25 e Frontier 25. But the list is incomplete because the canceled departures of private flights must also be added to these cancellations. The FAA – the US federal aviation body – has established that the reduction of movements in the main 40 airports will be progressive: let’s start with the 4% cut on Friday 7 November (from 6am local time) rising to 6% on Tuesday 11 November, then 8% on Thursday 13 November and hitting 10% on Friday.
And volumes
According to the specialized platform Cirium on Friday 7 November in the United States 25,375 departing flights were scheduled: of these, 3% were cancelled, equal to 748. But some of these are considered physiological. For Saturday, 21,748 departures from the USA have been put up for sale – national and international – and so far 595 have already been officially canceled (2.74%). But this number will grow in the late evening (Italian time).
«Other cuts would be problematic»
For now, airlines are changing their schedules in the hope that it will shutdown ends before reaching the 10% threshold. Robert Isom, CEO of American Airlines, doesn’t expect the government’s initial flight reductions to cause much inconvenience to customers. But at the same time he also said, during an interview with CnbcThat «further cuts will be problematic». “This level of cancellations will increase over time and that will be a problem,” he explained.
Measures for consumers
Carriers have offered passengers alternative flights and waived change fees for travelers on flights affected by cancellations. The various trade associations have also advised arrive at the airport 2 hours early to avoid long queues and, if possible, not to check in baggage in case flights are cancelled.
The statistics
Typically, about 1% of flights are canceled in the United States leaving, Cirium recalls. A figure that rises to 5-10% in the case of severe meteorological events (snowstorm, torrential rain spread across the country, a tornado). The current 3% is therefore halfway between normality and a day complicated by bad weather. But when next Friday — if the shutdown doesn’t end — the flight cut will rise to 10% at that point the situation will be difficult to manage for more than a few hours.
The reactions
Also due to this fear, and given the approach of Thanksgiving, Airlines for Americathe association representing all major US airlines, urged Congress to end the shutdown. “The busy Thanksgiving travel period begins in two weeks, and we expect 31 million passengers, a record», the group said on Friday. “We therefore implore Congress to act with the utmost urgency to reopen the federal government, ensure workers are paid, and return airspace to normal operations.”
