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Over the weekend, more than 1,400 American Airlines flights were canceled at Los Angeles International Airport due to staffing shortages and weather issues in Los Angeles, California, on October 31, 2021. This led to a significant disruption in air travel.
In response to industry challenges, air traffic control staffing problems caused delays in 12 major U.S. cities. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented ground delay plans, resulting in Atlanta flights being delayed by an average of 337 minutes. Transportation Secretary Duffy warned of the possibility of reducing air traffic by as much as 20%.
On Saturday, there were 1,330 flight cancellations across the country during the second day of federally mandated flight restrictions. The FAA instructed airlines to cut 4% of their flights at 40 major airports starting Friday, primarily due to safety concerns linked to air traffic control staffing shortages, which have been aggravated by unpaid controllers for several weeks.
These reductions are expected to increase to 6% on Tuesday and could reach 10% by November 14. At least 25 airports experienced staffing issues, affecting flights in cities including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. During this period, Atlanta saw its flight delays average around 337 minutes due to ground delay programs.
A total of about 5,450 flights were delayed on Saturday, following 7,000 delays and 1,025 cancellations on Friday. The flight reductions started early Friday morning, with approximately 700 flights canceled from the largest airlines—American, Delta, Southwest, and United. Many of these airlines canceled similar numbers again on Saturday.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford reported that 20% to 40% of air traffic controllers have been absent over recent days, contributing to the disruptions. Senator Ted Cruz blamed the shutdown for these issues, citing reports from pilots who have filed over 500 safety reports due to fatigue and mistake concerns by controllers.
During the 39-day government shutdown, thousands of air traffic controllers and security screeners worked without pay, leading to increased absences. Many controllers were informed they would not receive pay for a second consecutive pay period next week.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy indicated that if staffing shortages persist, air traffic could be reduced by up to 20%. The administration has cited these problems to pressure Senate Democrats into passing a “clean” funding bill, while Democrats attribute the shutdown to Republican refusal to negotiate related to expiring health insurance subsidies.
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