The long lines, canceled flights, staff shortages and customer service woes that have plagued the airline industry for the past year may be on the wane, but they won’t go away anytime soon.
That’s according to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told the Deseret News on Friday that he expects the current issues to continue through Thanksgiving and into Christmas.
“It will take some time for the pilot workforce to return to pre-COVID levels,” he said in an interview, noting that in some cases demand is higher now than it was before the pandemic.
“I don’t think this is going to be solved overnight,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg spoke to the Deseret News on Friday during his stop in Utah, where he unveiled new funding for infrastructure projects alongside Gov. Spencer Cox, part of the latest $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. Buttigieg also met with Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, local leaders and firefighters about fire prevention at the Emigration Canyon Fire Station.
And while transportation sustainability was the topic of the day, the secretary says his department is still engaging in daily talks with the airline industry.
“I have frequent conversations with them. And what we have seen is encouraging, but there is a long way to go,” he said.
Cancellation rates aren’t as high as they were in the spring and early summer, hovering around 3% or 4% — now they’re down to about 2%, which is starting to feel “normal,” Buttigieg said.
In addition, some airlines have made an effort to improve pay for pilots, allocating more resources to customer service and changing policies to account for inconsistent fees and refunds. Some airlines are also changing their flight schedules “to match their staffing realities.”
Planes are lined up at the gates of Salt Lake International Airport on Friday, July 29, 2022.
Laura Seitz, Deseret News
“We’ve certainly seen improvements since the unacceptable conditions that occurred around Memorial Day weekend,” Buttigieg said.
But problems persist – in the US, over 12,000 flights were delayed over the Fourth of July weekend, with more than 1,000 cancellations. London’s Heathrow Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport have recently cut passenger capacity and forced airlines to cancel flights. German airline Lufthansa canceled almost all of its flights to Frankfurt and Munich this week, stranding thousands of passengers.
And as of Friday afternoon, there were nearly 1,600 flight delays across the US and 278 cancellations, according to Flight Aware.
There are a number of factors – many airlines blame airports and governments for issues of overburdened airspace personnel and air traffic control. Bad weather has also canceled a number of flights this year. And in general, both airlines and airports are facing staff shortages.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham recently introduced a bill that would raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67 in an effort to keep more people on the job.
Buttigieg is not sold on this approach.
“I’m not comfortable with anything that could affect safety,” he said. I’m comfortable with any of the proposals that appear to be about relaxing safety rules.”
Buttigieg said some solutions could come from his department — others, especially anything related to security, would require an act of Congress.
As for the levers the Transportation Department could pull, Buttigieg pointed to the consumer protection program, which is currently investigating a number of complaints about airlines not issuing refunds, some of which will result in enforcement actions. soon.
Cooperation on national airspace management is another priority, he said, to address bottlenecks that often result in delays or cancellations.
The department is also evaluating the definition of unfair and deceptive practices “to make sure it gives us the latitude to do what we need to do,” Buttigieg said.
