The Silicon Valley Banking Scare: Should Airlines be Defaulting on the Derivatives of the State’s Poor Economy? A Bipartisan Comment
The economy is balanced on a knife’s edge. When the Silicon Valley banking scare happened, we saw a 15% drop in bookings overnight for business travel. That tells you how weak the economy is. Defaulting on the debt would be an unnecessary unforced error and we just shouldn’t do it. To me, our politicians — and this is a bipartisan comment – need on both sides to find a compromise and not let this happen because it’s just a really big risk. Maybe it winds up lasting one or two days and no big deal. dominos are really fragile and lined up in a lot. It goes from a debt default to a banking crisis if it knocks over the other dominoes. It would be crazy for us not to get this done because of that real risk.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177847284/lack-of-air-traffic-controllers-is-industrys-biggest-issue-united-airlines-ceo-s
The Loss of Air Traffic Control is the Industry’s Biggest Issue United Airlines Ceos: How Many Air Traffic Controllers Do We Need?
I think safety is the most important point. We start from Day One with every employee — we drill it into them that safety is No. 1. You don’t think about costs. I do not want the pilot or mechanic to say, “Well, this is a close call and I don’t want to delay or cancel the flight” because they might be thinking about that safety foundation.
The biggest issue for us and for the industry is air traffic control staffing shortages. The secretary of transportation acknowledged that they’re short 3,000 controllers. We have fewer air traffic controllers today than we had 30 years ago. Here in Denver, the last two days we woke up to a 30% reduction in the arrival rate for aircraft at the airport because of [air traffic control] staffing shortages on clear, blue sky days. That is the most important issue and most addressable.
The prices have come back to their pre-emic levels. During the show, Fares collapsed. If you go back to pre-pandemic, they’re still lower than they were a decade ago and I think we’ve just returned to normal. My guess would be fares are going to grow with inflation in the overall economy as they’ve historically done. They’re never going back to the artificial lows of COVID.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177847284/lack-of-air-traffic-controllers-is-industrys-biggest-issue-united-airlines-ceo-s
The National Aviation System is Very Busy During the Super Bowl, and it’s Going to Be A Little More Dramatic than Delta or American
We think our pilots deserve an industry-leading contract, and we have put that deal on the table. It includes significant work rule enhancements. There are a lot of changes that they requested in the contract, and an awful lot of changes that we’ve agreed to, and it’s just taking a little time. The deal that we are talking about is a better deal than either the Delta deal or the American deal. So I hope that we are close to the finish line with them.
By the way, it’s not the FAA’s fault – this is a 20- to 30-year-old issue. They simply don’t have the Congressional authorization. We are working hard to get the right amount of resources and a bipartisan FAA reauthorization bill to address that issue.
There’s no one you can do if the weather is bad. Recover quickly is what you can do. What we attempt to do is really isolate the problem to the day and the location where the weather is, and not have it bleed over into the rest of the system. We’ve gotten pretty good at that. It’s not always possible, but it becomes more difficult if the weather is rolling across the entire country. But for the most part, if a storm hits Denver and closes the airport for a few hours, we’ve gotten pretty good at isolating it to just that day and that airport.
More than 210,000 flights were canceled last year, as airlines delayed and canceled a staggering number of flights. “That is more canceled flights than any year since 2001 because of the H1N1 swine Flu, and it occurred in the early months,” Delattre says.
This year could see the busiest Memorial Day weekend in years for air travel. 3.5 million people are expected to fly this weekend according to AAA, a five percent increase over last year.
In the coming months, the national aviation system is likely to be subjected to a “stress test” due to recent staffing shortages, antiquated technology, air traffic control problems and labor disputes.
The American Airlines Budget Crisis During the 2016 Airline Season: Why Airlines are Frustrated? Why Airlines Are Down, Why They Aren’t, and Why They’re Not
Europe is popular this summer due to huge increases in the number of airline tickets purchased for the top ten destinations across the Atlantic.
“The airports are packed,” says Steve Solomon, chief commercial officer of the Airlines Reporting Corp., which processes and tracks airline ticket sales. Travelers should get to the airport early, allow adequate time to get through security, and be prepared for a lot of people on full planes.
Air travelers were not very happy last year. They were as bad as they’ve been in 25 years or more,” says Andre Delattre, national program director for PIRG, the Public Interest Research Group. The consumer advocacy group looked at airline passenger complaints.
Even though taxpayers shelled out $50 billion to keep airlines in business and pilots, flight attendants and other employees on the payrolls during the pandemic, airlines offered early retirements and other incentives for workers, including experienced flight crews and ground crews, to leave.
Air travel demand returned much quicker than expected. Many tried to cash in with aggressive scheduling, but the staff was stretched too thin to meet that demand, especially during severe weather, which led flight crews to time out without fresh crew members to replace them. With planes and flight crews out of place and too few replacements available, some airlines can take a week or more to get up to speed.
Last summer, American and its rivals were not as prepared as they are now. They’ve all gone on a hiring spree, with passenger airlines adding nearly 4,500 employees just in March alone.
Many experts advise travelers to be prepared for flight delays and canceled flights even if they are not the airlines’ fault.
While the Biden administration is turning up the heat on the airlines to fulfill their obligations to passengers, the airlines are growing frustrated with the federal government’s own aviation shortcomings.
The shortage of air traffic controllers could cause flight delays into and out of the three New York airports by 45% this summer.
Many airports have long waits for international travelers who are coming to the U.S. to get through customs.
“These problems have come out of years and years of underinvestment,” Freeman says. If the government doesn’t act soon, the headaches won’t only happen during the peak travel season but will become our daily reality.
The DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection can help airline passengers with their rights and responsibilities when they run into trouble with their flights. The site also links to a dashboard listing which airlines are willing to pay for meals, ground transportation, hotels and other expenses incurred because of significant delays and cancellations that are the airline’s fault. Consumers are able to file complaints on the site that it links to.
Experts recommend booking flights earlier in the day as storms tend to develop later in the afternoon and evening. It’s also a good idea to check the weather forecast for your destination and any cities where you have a layover. The FAA has a site where travelers can see where bad weather may cause problems.
Track the location of the plane and the delays there if you use the airline’s app. Book nonstop flights, if possible, so you don’t get stranded on a layover.
Travelers who are checking luggage should also be sure to pack an extra change of clothes or two and medications and other necessities in their carry-on bag, in case there’s a significant delay or cancellation after you’ve checked in.