Delta Air Lines CEO, Ed Bastian, has stated that he hopes air travel will be back to normal soon, following the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The government shutdown, which began on October 1 and furloughed many federal employees, has had a visible impact on the aviation system. The Federal Aviation Administration has been operating with reduced staff, and air traffic controllers, who are considered essential, have still been working but without pay. Airlines have been forced to follow the Federal Aviation Administration’s emergency order to incrementally reduce flight capacity by up to 10 percent across major U.S. airports.
As a result, major airports across the U.S. have reported longer wait times, fewer available flights, and increased cancellations. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned earlier this week that flight disruptions could skyrocket if the House of Representatives didn’t come to a conclusion.
After all, between Sunday and Wednesday, FlightAware data showed 7,500 flight cancellations across the U.S. with another 26,000 flights delayed.
Duffy urged lawmakers to approve the bipartisan bill that would end the government shutdown during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“If the House doesn’t act, I think we’ll see more than 10 percent disruption—and possibly airlines grounding planes altogether,” Duffy said. “That’s how serious this is.”
After 43 days on pause, the bill has been approved, but it won’t be business as usual for quite some time. Federal workers are still awaiting backpay, and airlines like Delta have warned that lingering delays could take real time—perhaps weeks—to stabilize.
Fortunately, Bastian said that he believes the major disruptions should clear up by Friday.
“I think it’ll happen pretty quickly… once people start getting paid,” he told Bloomberg. “Over the next couple of days, I think you’ll see things turn to normal.”
He added that, should the weather hold up okay, as well, we should be back “pretty close to normal” by Friday and that “Thanksgiving will be great.”
Delta Air Lines CEO Makes Statement on When to Expect Delays to Stop
