Budget paralysis | Hundreds of flights canceled at US airports

(Washington) Hundreds of flights were canceled Friday at American airports due to the budget blockage which is stretching out and has led the authorities to reduce air traffic in the face of the shortage of air traffic controllers.

These cancellations follow the Trump administration’s decision to reduce traffic as a safety measure in the face of the shortage of personnel in the control towers, who have been asked for more than five weeks to work without being paid due to the budgetary paralysis.

“We have friends who come from Europe, who are at home and who are leaving tomorrow and they are a little afraid,” Elvira Buchi told AFP, who came to pick up her daughter at La Guardia airport in New York. “Reduce thefts if it’s a question of safety, absolutely, but we should never have come to this.”

More than 800 flights have been canceled so far, according to tracking site FlightAware. The hardest hit airports are Chicago O’Hare, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth.

According to the Department of Transportation, the reduction in air traffic will be 4% on Friday, increasing to 6% on November 11 and up to 10% on November 14.

The budgetary paralysis or “shutdown” is the longest in American history, with Republicans and Democrats unable to agree in Congress on a new budget.

“It’s frustrating. You know, we don’t need to be in this situation. The government must reopen so that we do not have to cancel flights,” Robert Isom, boss of American Airlines, one of the largest companies in the United States, said on CNBC on Friday.

“What we have done today is try to minimize the impact on all of our customers.”

Domestic and regional flights

The cancellations add to the long queues that stretch at checkpoints managed by security agents who have also been deprived of pay for more than a month.

The disruptions begin on the eve of a weekend that many Americans will extend until Tuesday, November 11, a public holiday in the United States. And they come as Thanksgiving approaches, the great American family holiday for which millions of Americans take the plane every year, on November 27.

“If you have to go to a wedding, funeral or something else important in the next few days, given the risk of flight cancellations, I would advise buying a backup ticket on another airline,” suggests the boss of the low-cost airline Frontier, Barry Biffle, on social networks.

Which flights are affected? Not long-haul international flights at this stage, United and Delta said.

United says the cancellations are focused on “domestic and regional flights that do not connect to our airport hubs.”

Zero dollars

“With Thanksgiving coming up, if we’re still in this situation, it’s going to be tough. We will act on security issues. But will your flight take off on time? Will it take off at all? It remains to be seen, but there will be more disruptions,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Fox News on Thursday.

The main American companies have indicated that their impacted customers can change their trip or request a refund without financial penalty.

As an illustration, the American air regulator (FAA) explained on October 31 that half of the 30 main airports “are experiencing staff shortages” and that nearly 80% of air traffic controllers were absent at New York airports. “After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue.”

Around 14,000 air traffic controllers monitor the American skies. Every day more than three million passengers fly in the United States, with an average of more than 44,000 flights, according to the FAA.