United's Scott Kirby blames FAA for flight cancellations and delays
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United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby told employees that a shortage of air traffic controllers affected about 150,000 passengers in recent days as the carrier struggles with canceled flights brought on by thunderstorms in the New York area. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In an email late Monday afternoon, Kirby took direct aim at the Federal Aviation Administration, saying short staffing left the agency unable to deal with the inclement weather.
“The FAA frankly failed us this weekend,” Kirby wrote.
After a relatively smooth start to the summer travel season, the surge in delayed and canceled flights — combined with Kirby’s email — set up a clash between one of the nation’s largest airlines and the government agency responsible for keeping the skies safe as the busy July Fourth weekend approaches. It follows a report by the Department of Transportation’s inspector general last week that found the agency had taken only limited steps to address shortages and repeated warnings by the air traffic controllers’ union that too few employees were available.
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The FAA did not immediately respond to questions about Kirby’s email but said in a statement, “We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.”
While Kirby took aim at the FAA, there are signs that at least some of the problems trace back to internal issues at United.
On Monday evening, the Association of Flight Attendants sent a memo to union members saying wait times for a crew-scheduling line had reached three hours. The union encouraged flight attendants approaching their maximum number of work hours to find their own accommodations.
“There is an absolute recognition by Union leadership and Inflight management that something must be done in order to permanently address these adverse situations resulting from irregular operations,” the memo said.
United canceled almost 600 flights Monday, nearly 20 percent of its schedule. The carrier had canceled another 360 flights as of Tuesday morning.
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The situation has echoes of a large-scale meltdown at Southwest Airlines over the Christmas holiday period, when crews were in the wrong locations as the carrier tried to match pilots, flight attendants and aircraft.
In his email to staff, Kirby said trouble began Saturday when the FAA reduced arrival and departure rates in the New York area. Continuing storms in the area have made it harder for the airline to recover.
“It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position,” Kirby wrote. “And that put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening.”
Delta Air Lines also struggled Sunday and Monday, but as of Tuesday morning had canceled only 59 flights, as well as 70 at its regional subsidiary Endeavor Air.
The disruptions are the most serious since the beginning of the summer travel season and come as the FAA is forecasting an uptick in flights this week as the July Fourth holiday approaches. The agency expects Thursday to be the busiest single day of the long holiday weekend, with 52,564 flights.
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The FAA acknowledged in the spring that understaffing at a key facility responsible for coordinating traffic near New York’s three main airports could cause delays this summer. The agency sought to work with airlines to reduce their number of flights — while using larger aircraft that accommodate more passengers — in an attempt to avoid problems.
In its report earlier this month, the Transportation Department’s inspector general said the FAA did not have a plan to address a shortage of air traffic controllers across its system, “which in turn poses a risk to the continuity of air traffic operations.”
Rich Santa, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said the report reflected long-standing concerns of the union.
“FAA’s flawed staffing model and inconsistent hiring has resulted in new hires not keeping pace with attrition over the past decade,” Santa said in a statement. “The status quo is no longer sustainable.”
The agency suffered another blow Sunday when the discovery of an overheating power cable led to a pause on flights in the Washington region.
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Source: The Washington Post
