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Air Travel Is No Holiday as Covid and Storms Cancel Flights

Airlines and passengers are ending the year with many of their plans upended. And New Year’s weekend may be bumpy, too.

By Niraj Chokshi and Heather Murphy

Airlines may have thought their pandemic troubles were behind them in the fall as a coronavirus wave subsided and travelers increasingly took to the skies. But a new virus surge and winter storms have left the carriers and their passengers in a holiday mess.

Heading into the New Year’s weekend, when return flights will produce another crest in air travel, airlines have been canceling more than 1,000 flights a day to, from or within the United States. More than 1,300 flights on Friday were canceled. Carriers and their employees say the latest chapter of the pandemic, the Omicron variant, has cut deeply into the ability to staff flights, even though a vast majority of crew members are vaccinated.

“I’ve never seen a meltdown like this in my life,” said Angelo Cucuzza, the director of organizing at the Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants at JetBlue. “They just can’t keep up with the amount of folks that are testing positive.”

JetBlue has been one of the airlines hardest hit, canceling 17 percent of its flights on Thursday, according to the air travel data site FlightAware . The carrier said Wednesday that it would cut about 1,280 flights through mid-January, citing the rise in virus cases in the Northeast, where its operations and crews are concentrated.

And then there was the weather, always a volatile element in holiday travel but particularly challenging in recent days — notably in the Pacific Northwest, where heavy snowfall and record low temperatures grounded planes last weekend.

The next few days may be just as frustrating. Storms in Southern California and the Northwest could combine to dump snow on airline hubs in Denver and Chicago, with severe thunderstorms threatening Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, too, according to Dan DePodwin, director of forecast operations at AccuWeather.

Alaska Airlines, whose main hub is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, went so far as to suggest that people put off nonessential travel until the new year. The carrier was hit hard again Thursday, with 14 percent of its flights canceled, as Seattle got more snow.

As many as 10 million people may fly from Thursday through Monday, according to Transportation Security Administration estimates. For months, airlines have been preparing reserves of workers for the holiday crush. But those measures were inadequate in a fast-changing situation, and many passengers were frustrated.

“Even though it’s been two years with Covid, it does not seem like they have this figured out,” said Sabine Malloy, whose plan to rendezvous with her boyfriend in Alaska to see the northern lights was upended on Tuesday when both their flights on Delta Air Lines — hers from Southern California, his from Denver — were canceled. Delta told them that it could not rebook them for several days, she said, so they canceled their plans — after her boyfriend had driven seven hours from South Dakota for his flight.

Trying to change plans before departing was also daunting. A traveler trying to rebook a family trip on American Airlines encountered a recording saying to expect a four-hour wait for a callback from an agent.

Some say airlines shoulder some of the blame for the turmoil. The industry received $54 billion in federal aid to keep workers employed throughout the pandemic, assistance that came with a ban on layoffs. But carriers were able to thin their ranks by offering buyouts and early-retirement packages to thousands of workers.

Airlines started hiring again as the travel rebound took off this year, but most have yet to fully restore their work forces: The industry employed nearly 413,000 people in October, down almost 9 percent from the same month in 2019, according to federal data . Airlines have had trouble turning a profit as passenger volumes remain about 15 percent below prepandemic levels.

The industry looked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent days for a partial solution to its staffing problems, lobbying for the 10-day isolation period recommended for those infected with the coronavirus to be reduced to five days. Some scientists , unaffiliated with airlines , made a similar suggestion to bolster strained work forces in other realms, like hospitals.

On Monday, the C.D.C. shifted its guidance to five days of isolation for people whose symptoms have ended or are abating, followed by five days wearing a mask. The agency said the change was motivated by findings that the coronavirus was mostly transmitted one to two days before symptoms appear and two to three days afterward.

On Tuesday, in a memo seen by The New York Times, JetBlue told employees that it would expect those “who have no symptoms, or whose symptoms are improving, to come back to work after five days.” Crew members may remain on leave if they provide a doctor’s note, but they won’t be paid as if they were working, according to Mr. Cucuzza of the Transport Workers Union.

Asked for comment, JetBlue said, “The health and safety of our crew members and customers remains our top priority as we work through this pandemic.”

Delta is providing five days’ sick leave for infected workers, with two additional paid sick days if they choose to be tested on Day 5 and the results are positive.

The shorter isolation time is fueling a debate in the industry. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines, urged maintaining a 10-day isolation period in a letter to airlines on Tuesday.

“We believe this is the wrong move for aviation as it accepts that infectious people will be put back on the job or flying as passengers on our planes,” Sara Nelson, the union’s president, wrote. Several flight attendants interviewed expressed concerns that potentially contagious colleagues might return to work without being tested.

Airlines always prepare for turmoil, particularly around the holidays, when bad winter weather in one place can knock an entire system off balance. But the industry has been hit especially hard this year.

After two airlines, American and Southwest, canceled thousands of flights in October because of fierce weather and a brief shortage of air traffic controllers, they vowed to address the problems, offering bonuses to encourage employees to work throughout the holiday period, stepping up hiring and pruning flight plans. Both have avoided widespread cancellations this holiday season.

“We realized that we have got to make sure that we have staffing in place,” David Seymour, American’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. The airline recalled several thousand flight attendants from leave last month and this month and hired almost 600 more.

When chaos strikes, airlines engage in a complicated choreography to get out of it.

The main goal, airlines and aviation experts say, is to minimize the effect on passengers. But that’s easier said than done.

Alaska Airlines spent months laying plans for this holiday season, investing in staff and equipment to deal with the winter weather and lining up backup flight crews, according to Constance von Muehlen, its chief operating officer.

The airline managed staff calling in sick at high rates by offering extra pay for others to fill in, but sustained snowfall and record low temperatures in the Seattle area forced it to cancel nearly one-third of its flights on Sunday, about one-quarter on Monday and about one-fifth on Tuesday.

“Once you get your day off poorly, there’s nothing you can do to catch up,” Ms. von Muehlen said.

On Tuesday, the airline issued a stark announcement. Alaska would cut about 20 percent of flights out of Seattle in the coming days to allow extra time to de-ice planes. It also “strongly” urged customers to delay nonessential travel until after this weekend.

“Our values guided our decision,” she said. “We need to be as realistic as possible in what we will be able to operate and to let people know, as difficult as it is for us to do that.”

Getting flight crews in place can be especially tricky, with workers dispersed throughout the country and subject to various regulations. Flight attendants are generally required to have nine hours of rest between shifts, for example.

The Omicron variant has only confounded that already complicated process.

Capt. James Belton, a spokesman for the roughly 13,500 United Airlines pilots in the Air Line Pilots Association, confirmed that the variant is creating challenges.

“Our sick calls are above normal,” he said. Many pilots have helped fill gaps by picking up additional shifts, he said, but they are limited to flying 100 hours a month under federal law.

Operations on the ground are also being affected. The Federal Aviation Administration warned on Thursday that rising infections among employees, including air traffic control staff, might result in delays.

The Transportation Security Administration said that it was concerned about rising virus infections, too, but that it had adequate staffing. Average wait times in airport security lines were about five minutes in recent days, a spokesman said.

Getting through security, of course, is no guarantee that the rest of the trip will be smooth.

Elizabeth Barnhisel and her husband were heading off on a delayed honeymoon when a canceled connection forced an unexpected overnight layover on Tuesday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Entering a baggage claim area, they found what looked like hundreds of bags lined up and crowds of miserable people — some crying, some napping, because they had been waiting so long for their bags.

Every few hours, someone would offer a different reason for the fiasco: frozen carousels, Omicron, weather. After about 10 hours, Ms. Barnhisel’s bag arrived from across the airport.

The couple eventually made it to their destination, Vancouver, but it was not the honeymoon experience Ms. Barnhisel had counted on. “We’re flabbergasted,” she said. “We definitely took a risk by taking this trip. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to get back to normal somehow.”

Lauren Hirsch contributed reporting.

Niraj Chokshi covers the business of transportation, with a focus on autonomous vehicles, airlines and logistics. More about Niraj Chokshi

Heather Murphy is a reporter on the Travel desk. She welcomes tips, questions and complaints about traveling during the pandemic. More about Heather Murphy

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After a Rocky Start to the Year, Experts Predict What’s Next for Air Travel in 2024

There will be more fliers and (hopefully) fewer delays and cancellations. but other aspects of air travel are less clear..

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What is known and what are the unknowns for 2024? We asked insiders.

Photo by Justin Lim/Unsplash

In 2024, more of us, apparently, are resolving to take more trips by air. Or at least that was how it was looking before two back-to-back in-flight incidents kicked off the start of the year: the Japan Airlines airplane that burst into flames after a runway collision, and the Alaska Airlines plug door blowing out that led to the global grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max planes.

This year, despite some nervousness fliers may be feeling in the aftermath of said incidents, air travel volume is expected to reach “an historic high,” with 4.7 billion air passengers expected worldwide, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). That exceeds not just 2023’s total of 4.4 billion, but also the pre-pandemic 2019 total of 4.5 billion.

Airlines have “come roaring back to pre-pandemic levels of connectivity,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, adding that “the speed of the recovery has been extraordinary.” Looking ahead, 44 percent of those polled in a recent IATA consumer survey say that they will travel more in the next 12 months than in the previous 12 months.

In the United States, the story is similar, said Helane Becker, an airline analyst with investment bank TD Cowen, who noted that passenger volume at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints was up 11.6 percent in 2023, with an average of 2.3 million travelers daily—and that will rise at least 5 percent in 2024. Unless TSA adds more screeners, that could lead to longer airport lines. In peak periods “we will regularly see days when 3 million people travel through airports,” Becker said.

How will the recent safety scares affect operations? What does the higher number of travelers mean for airfares this year? And will we see additional operational struggles like the snafus that roiled holiday travel a little more than a year ago? We asked experts to weigh in. Here are their predictions for what flying will be like in 2024.

Air travel safety is being called into question amid Boeing 737-9 Max groundings

After a series of close calls at airports last year, air safety standards were already under the microscope in 2023. But when the new year began with two serious accidents, the Boeing 737-9 Max scare , which followed a crash at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport , the issue became a front-page story.

After immediately grounding 171 Boeing 737-9 Max planes in the United States and in countries with direct flights to the U.S., the FAA on January 12 said that it would be increasing its oversight of Boeing production and manufacturing. The move came one day after the FAA said that it had “formally notified Boeing that the FAA has launched an investigation into the company as a result of last Friday’s incident on a Boeing Model 737-9 MAX in which the aircraft lost a passenger door plug while in flight.”

It’s unclear how long it will be before the 737-9 Max planes can return to service. Last week, United reported that it had found loose bolts on Boeing 737-9 Max airplanes during fleet inspections, furthering concerns.

The Alaska plane is not the same version of the 737 as the Max 8, which had two fatal crashes that prompted a nearly two-year worldwide grounding of the Max series starting in 2019. But given that it is part of the same aircraft family, the incident is raising some questions among travelers about its overall safety record.

“The outcome could have been a lot worse” if the Alaska aircraft had been at cruising altitude (about 34,000 feet), said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and an aviation safety consultant.

The head of NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, said at a news conference following the Alaska Airlines incident that the agency is going to pore over maintenance and safety records to determine the cause of the accident, which could take some time. But she also reassured the traveling public that air travel is safe.

“We have the safest aviation system in the world,” she said, adding that the United States “sets the standard for air safety” globally.

This issue—and the concerns it has sparked—isn’t going away anytime soon, and we can expect air travel safety to be top of mind for travelers and the industry for weeks and possibly months to come.

Airlines will fix operational woes—or face the consequences

No airline has gotten got a bigger black eye over flight snafus lately than Southwest—which, despite its mega-airline size, was tripped up in late 2022 during a weather-related meltdown by its antiquated technology, including a woefully outdated crew-scheduling system. The airline paid dearly for the mess, and not just in damage to its reputation; last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) socked it with a record $140 million fine .

But the implications for fliers go well beyond one airline: $90 million of the fine will go directly into a fund to compensate passengers who are delayed more than three hours, and industry watchers fully expect this three-hour rule will take effect across the industry. Consumer advocates say this signals a tougher stand on airline service issues that are clearly under the carrier’s control, including inadequate staffing to meet published schedules.

As Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told the Wings Club in New York last month (just as the DOT news was about to break), the airline has invested more than $1 billion in new systems that will not only help get crews to where they need to be but also enable the airline to better manage flights in bad weather. “Going forward, this is about running a great operation, and we will not stop working on it until we get it done,” Jordan said.

“The message is, if you don’t invest in the product, the consequences can be devastating,” said William McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. He predicts that the current leadership at DOT, “the most pro-consumer in U.S. history,” will be even more active on air passenger rights in 2024.

As part of that effort, DOT has signaled it will probe airline loyalty plans for evidence of “unfair and deceptive” practices, in response to a rise in complaints about changes in the award levels required to redeem tickets, among other things.

Don’t count on (much, if any) airfare relief

In 2023, as leisure travel rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, consumers got sticker shock as fares rose well above the rate of inflation—in some markets by as much as 15 to 20 percent—mainly because capacity was still down due to a lag in aircraft deliveries.

But heading into 2024, demand is still outpacing the number of available seats, and according to some experts, that situation may continue well into the year.

“Airfares are probably going to be higher [in 2024] because it simply comes down to supply and demand,” said Michael Derchin, a long-time Wall Street airline analyst who pens the newsletter Heard in the Hangar.

“Supply is tight and demand is high, and supply is tight for reasons that are totally out of the control of the airlines,” he said. And major aircraft manufacturers continue to have supply chain problems.

In addition, while most U.S. airlines are in the black, their costs are going up. Fuel prices have stabilized recently, but “the airlines’ single biggest cost by far is labor, accounting for about 40 percent of total expenses, and this year there’s been a significant increase in wages” thanks to airline unions’ success in bargaining for better pay and benefits, Derchin said.

The main takeaway: If you see a good flight deal, grab it. Prices aren’t likely to descend.

Hidden and ancillary fees don’t appear to be going away

Logic would dictate that if people are paying higher-than-expected prices, they should expect to get more for their money. Right? Not so fast, said Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst and co-founder of Atmosphere Research.

Ancillary fees, such as baggage fees and additional costs for seat selection and other services—which have drawn much criticism from Congress and the Biden administration—“are here to stay,” he said. He noted that Alaska Airlines is raising the price of checking a bag from $30 to $35 . “That has not increased in a while, and other airlines will follow suit,” he said.

Expanded international service

On the bright side, there will likely be more flight choices to destinations abroad in 2024. “Major airlines are adding international flights with a focus on restoring seasonal capacity and adding new flights to the Pacific region,” said TD Cowen’s Becker. She also cited what might be described as the Taylor Swift effect: major events that stimulate a lot of airline traffic. Watch for flights to fill up to the Paris Olympics this summer, and to destinations on the superstar’s international tour this year.

'Flying feels different': Here's how air travel has changed recently

If you haven't flown in a while, fasten your seat belts. I've got good news – and bad news.

You've probably already heard the bad news because it travels faster than the speed of sound. Airfares are up. So are luggage fees. And we seem to have a problem with in-flight violence again. 

But there's more to the story, and if you're an occasional air traveler, you'll want to get the big picture. You might be surprised by what you find.

Check out   Elliott Confidential , the newsletter the travel industry doesn't want you to read. Each issue is filled with breaking news, deep insights, and exclusive strategies for becoming a better traveler. But don't tell anyone!

First, the bad news about air travel in 2024

Some of the changes have not been for the better. For example:

• Airfares are climbing. Cheap pandemic airfares are history. Average domestic round-trip fares fell to a low of $186 in May 2020 . But they were back up to $261 by the beginning of this year – and they continue to climb.
• Checked-baggage fees are soaring. All of the major airlines have recently raised their baggage fees. On domestic flights, a checked bag may cost as much as $35 (more if you wait until the last minute or your bag is overweight). 
• Air rage is back. In-flight air rage hit record highs in 2021, mostly because of masking requirements. But the number of violent in-flight incidents remains high – this time, a combination of fuller flights and a continuing decline of civility. We're on track to exceed 2020's unruly-passenger incidents.

But don't despair. The air travel experience is changing in small ways – and, potentially, in big ways.

What's it like to fly now?

Let's start with the air travel experience itself. Flights are fuller and space is tighter than ever. In fact, if you're flying somewhere this spring or summer, you should congratulate yourself. You're probably part of the busiest year in the history of air travel.

"Air travel has rebounded," said Jason Block, CEO of WorldVia Travel Group . That puts a squeeze on regular passengers. If you've booked a no-frills economy ticket, you may face a higher risk of being bumped from your flight. So if you have a little extra money, Block suggests buying a more flexible ticket. You're still not bump-proof, but at least you'll move up the list.

▶ Smile for the TSA . The passenger screening experience is different but not necessarily better. The Transportation Security Administration has new scanners that take your picture to verify your identity. New technology might allow you to keep all your belongings in your bag and speed up screening – "might" being the operative word. 

"The process is more inconsistent than ever," said Andy Abramson, a frequent traveler and a communications consultant from Las Vegas. "Procedures change from airport to airport. In some cases, all you need is your boarding pass. In others, you need your ID, and in others, nothing but your facial scan."

Air travel smells worse than ever. Here's how to fix it.

Pay less to fly: New strategies for finding cheap airfares now

Speaking of technology, many air travelers have raved about new onboard Wi-Fi capabilities. Airlines like Air New Zealand, Emirates and JetBlue include the price of Wi-Fi in their tickets, and the connections have just gotten better since the pandemic. 

▶ Your face is your boarding pass . The TSA isn't the only one using facial scans. Some U.S. airlines have started using facial scans instead of boarding passes. It's a bit of an adjustment for passengers. 

"I stood awkwardly in front of a camera, feeling like a contestant in a dystopian game show," said Chris McGuire, a real estate broker from Birmingham, Ala.

A few months ago, Frankfurt became the first airport in Europe to fully adopt facial recognition . Other airports, including Tokyo and Dubai, also have face-scanning technology. If you haven't flown in a while, you may not have to fumble for your boarding pass before you get on the plane. 

I've used face-scanning technology on many occasions, and it usually works, but it can be slow. Getting through customs in Santiago, Chile, took a while, and the agent kept apologizing for the technology. So don't forget to pack your patience.

▶ No more ticket change fees . Airline ticket change fees disappeared during the pandemic on U.S. airlines. So if you have to change your flight, you won't have to pay a $250 fee on top of any fare difference.

"That's one of the most significant changes," said frequent air traveler Bob Bacheler, managing director of Flying Angels , a medical transport service. "Airlines introduced more flexible booking and cancellation policies, allowing passengers to change or cancel flights without heavy penalties."

Bacheler believes the fees will return eventually, and he's right. If they do, airlines will call them something else – maybe a "convenience" fee?

▶ You may board your flight differently . "Some airlines are implementing new boarding procedures," said Andy Palacios, vice president of growth and strategic partnerships for App in the Air . The most significant is United Airlines, which last fall began boarding economy passengers with window seats before those with middle and aisle seats.

Palacios recommends avoiding the general boarding mayhem by getting a credit card or earning elite status. Anything that gets you into the first boarding group can save you from having to gate-check your carry-on or just getting stuck in a crowd.

▶ You have new rights, too . If something goes wrong on your flight, you may find that your airline will do more for you. That's because the Department of Transportation, which regulates airlines, has been applying steady pressure on domestic airlines to improve customer service. (After all, taxpayers bailed out the airlines during the pandemic.)

Airlines now offer guaranteed meals, accommodations and ground transportation to and from a hotel when they're at fault for a cancellation. (You can find out about all your rights on the Transportation Department's Fly Rights website.)

The federal government is working on carving out more rights for air travelers, dealing with everything from more straightforward and honest pricing to minimum seat size. But it's a work in progress.

Air travel may be about to get better. Here's what it means for your next flight.

Passengers want to get off the plane first. Here's how you can do it.

Flying 'feels different' now

Passengers say it feels as if something has shifted in air travel.

"Flying feels different," said Robert Khachatryan, a frequent flyer and founder of a freight forwarding service in La Crescenta, Calif. 

He's correct. It's not just that customers have a few new rights or that the technology is getting an upgrade – or even that boarding is a little different. 

There's a sense that something big lies just ahead. With people like Elon Musk teasing a Tesla that can fly and personal flying vehicles making headlines almost every day, there's a feeling that flying is about to evolve in a significant way.

Air travelers have become disenchanted with commercial air travel, with its high fares, fees, long lines and terrible customer service. And the relief may not come from new rules to protect the rights of air travelers but from a fundamental change in the way we fly. 

So if flying feels different to you now, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet.

This is the first of a two-part series on the future of air travel. Next week: Flying cars. Yeah, we're going to go there.

Christopher Elliott  is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded  Elliott Advocacy , a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes  Elliott Confidential , a travel newsletter, and the  Elliott Report , a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can  reach him here  or email him at  [email protected] .

Report cites red flags for fatigue risk among air traffic controllers

Expert panel studied work schedules for thousands of air traffic controllers for clues to reduce fatigue, improve well-being in the workforce.

The Federal Aviation Administration needs to take steps to reduce fatigue and stress among the air traffic controllers who oversee 45,000 flights daily, a report warned on Friday.

The three-person panel of scientific fatigue experts called on the agency to update its staffing models; centralize information about its management and tracking of fatigue risk; and require 10 to 12 hours between shifts. The FAA should also form a working group that could use the 114-page report as a basis for evaluating and determining next steps, it said.

“This report is intended to provide a tool for the FAA to pursue actions that address the identified strengths and risks in air traffic operations,” the authors wrote. “There are many strengths identified that the FAA can build upon and identified vulnerabilities that can be addressed through sustained efforts to minimize or mitigate fatigue risks.”

While they acknowledged that such concerns about fatigue are not a new problem, the panel underscored urgency.

“Without action, these risks will continue to grow and become more severe over time with individual and system cumulative effects,” the report said.

FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker announced the formation of the panel in December, spurred in part by conversations with controllers and by growing concerns about an increase in the number of serious near-miss incidents at airports across the country. In all, the FAA logged 23 serious near misses at airports from October 2022 to September 2023. Other kinds of incidents occurred in the air, with planes reportedly flying close enough to each other to trigger warning alarms.

“We are committed to a sustained effort to address controller fatigue and ensure our airspace is the safest in the world,” he said in a statement. “These recommendations will significantly aid our efforts, providing a road map to mitigate this risk for our agency.”

Whitaker said he would act immediately on one of the panel’s recommendations: requiring 10 hours between shifts and 12 hours off before a midnight shift, effective in 90 days.

But the new policy could have the opposite of its intended effect, said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which argued that the best way to reduce fatigue is to hire more controllers.

“NATCA is concerned that with an already understaffed controller workforce, immediate application of the Administrator’s new rules may lead to coverage holes in air traffic facilities’ schedules,” the union said in a statement. “Requiring controllers to work mandatory overtime to fill those holes would increase fatigue and make the new policy nothing more than window dressing.”

At a hearing in November before a Senate subcommittee on aviation safety, safety experts, including Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, voiced concern about reports that controllers were being forced to work 60-hour weeks as they struggled to keep up with the demand for air travel.

“All the red flags are there,” Homendy told reporters. “We are sounding the alarm bells and we need action. Frankly, I don’t want to hear about more meetings. I don’t want to hear about conferences. I don’t want to hear about summits. Goddamn, do something.”

On Friday, Homendy praised Whitaker for addressing long-standing concerns about controller fatigue but said more work needs to be done.

“The safety of our skies depends on air traffic controllers who are well-trained and well-rested,” she said in a statement.

Another report , released in November by a panel of experts assembled in response to those near misses, also warned that outdated technology and increased reliance on overtime to staff air-traffic control facilities were putting aviation safety at risk.

There are 1,000 fewer qualified controllers working today than a decade ago, according to NATCA. As a result, 40 percent of air-traffic control facilities rely on employees working six days a week at least once a month. The group’s president, Rich Santa, told the Senate panel the shortage means that some controllers were on permanent six-day-a-week schedules.

The FAA met its goal of hiring 1,500 controllers in 2023 and is aiming to hire an additional 1,800 this year, which Whitaker said the agency is on track to meet. Still, many trainees — almost one-third — leave before they complete training, underscoring the staffing challenge.

While additional staffing can offer relief from overtime and extended workweeks, the panel noted in its report it can only go so far.

“Even optimal staffing does not eliminate the inherent biological fatigue risks that exist in any around-the-clock operational setting,” the report said. “Sleep loss and circadian disruption created by night work and rotating shifts engender known safety and performance decrements that can lead to errors, incidents, and accidents.”

The panel reviewed more than 100 documents, visited four air traffic control facilities and held 25 meetings over 10 weeks as it compiled its report, which asked how workforce, work requirements and scheduling practices for controllers relate to current science on human sleep, circadian needs and fatigue considerations.

The report also identified smaller steps to help employees better manage concerns about fatigue, including ensuring the health insurance programs for controllers cover sleep disorders, diagnosis and treatment and standardizing the light levels in facilities, which could improve alertness. A study on the impact of lighting on NASA mission controllers found that bright, blue-enriched lighting in recreational break rooms improved controller alertness and performance on the night shift, it noted.

The panel included fatigue expert and former National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind; Erin E. Flynn-Evans, director of the fatigue countermeasures laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center; and Charles A. Czeisler, director of the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School.

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US Air Safety Agency Requires More Down Time for Traffic Controllers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will require 10 hours off between shifts for air traffic controllers, and 12 hours off before a midnight shift, effective in 90 days, the agency's head said on Friday.

"In my first few months at the helm of the FAA, I toured air traffic control facilities around the country — and heard concerns about schedules that do not always allow controllers to get enough rest," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.

"With the safety of our controllers and national airspace always top of mind for FAA, I took this very seriously – and we're taking action."

The FAA in 2023 commissioned an independent panel to assess the risks of controller fatigue and provide recommendations, which included between 10 and 12 hours off between shifts.To alleviate pressure on the workforce, Whitaker said the FAA had ramped up recruitment and was on track to meet a 2024 goal of hiring 1,800 air traffic controllers, up from 1,500 last year."I understand this lengthened rest period will be an adjustment for thousands of our air traffic controllers," Whitaker said in the statement.

(Reporting by David Ljungren and Ismail Shakil; writing by Paul Grant; Editing by Caitlin Webber)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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FAA outage: Damaged database file took down safety system, grounding flights

What you need to know about the faa computer outage.

• Normal air traffic operations were resuming across the U.S. on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said, after an overnight computer outage grounded thousands of flights .
• The FAA said its Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, which contains information essential to workers involved in flight operation, had "failed."
• A corrupted and damaged database file in the system was blamed for the stoppage, the FAA said.
• More than 1,300 flights were canceled Wednesday and 10,000 were delayed Wednesday.

Over 1,300 cancellations, 10,000 delays in U.S. Wednesday

Phil Helsel

There were 1,343 flights canceled within, into or leaving the U.S. on Wednesday, the day a computer outage halted all departures in the country.

The number of delayed flights in the U.S. on Wednesday was 10,060, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware .

New York’s LaGuardia Airport had 50% of its departing plans delayed, according to the website. Denver International had 60% of its departing flights delayed.

The Federal Aviation Administration said a damaged database file was found as it investigated the cause of the outage to its Notice to Air Missions system. “There is no evidence of a cyber attack,” the agency said.

Aviation warning system that crashed was already a pain for pilots

Kevin Collier

The U.S. aviation warning system that crashed for more than an hour Wednesday traces its origins to ocean-faring ships and has been under continuous reforms for years, experts say.

At least one aviation industry group has called for it to be replaced altogether.

The Federal Aviation Administration  grounded all flights  blaming an unspecified failure in the Notice to Air Missions system. NOTAM issues a near-constant stream of acronyms and abbreviations to alert pilots to a host of potential dangers, from parachuters and bad weather to legal airspace restrictions and flocks of birds.

By Wednesday evening, the agency had pinpointed the problem as a damaged database file, and there is no evidence of a cyberattack, it said.

Regardless of the cause, the NOTAM system has long been a source of frustration for pilots and others in the aviation industry, who say it overloads them with information that’s irrelevant to their flights and makes it difficult to identify actually useful information.

Read the full story here .

More than 1,300 flights still delayed across U.S.

Tim Stelloh

More than 1,300 flights were delayed and nearly 100 were canceled Wednesday afternoon after a corrupted file knocked out a government system that provides pilots with critical information, halting flights across the country overnight.

Flights resumed Wednesday morning . According to the tracking site FlightAware , Denver International Airport led the country with delays, at 111.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was second, with 95.

The average departure and arrival delays were under an hour at both airports, according to the site.

Nearly 10,000 flights had been delayed across the country Wednesday, according to the site. More than 1,300 had been canceled.

Corrupted file affected critical FAA system, official says

Jay Blackman

A corrupted file affected both the primary and backup systems of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions system, a senior government official said. 

The failure of the critical system prompted a ground halt at airports across the country early Wednesday before passengers slowly began boarding flights again.

It isn’t clear how the file was corrupted. An investigation continues.

Buttigieg: 'No direct indication of any kind of external or nefarious activity,' but not ruling it out

Julianne McShane

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell that "there is no direct indication of any kind of external or nefarious activity, but we are not yet prepared to rule that out."

He added that officials are working "to see exactly what was going on inside the files that were in the system, leading to this irregularity."

"This is an incredibly complex system," Buttigieg said later in the interview. "So glitches or complications happen all the time, but we can’t allow them to ever lead to this level of disruption, and we won’t ever allow them to lead to a safety problem."

The Transportation Department forced airlines to pay out millions of dollars in refunds last year for canceled and delayed flights , but Buttigieg stopped short of agreeing that it should refund travelers after the FAA outage when Mitchell posed the question.

"We’re not for-profit companies selling tickets that the way an airline is," he said. "Our responsibility is to make sure that everybody is safe, and we’re always going to err on the side of safety. ... When there’s an issue on the government side of the house, when there’s an issue in FAA, we’re going to own it, we’re going to understand it, and we’re going to make very clear what’s needed in order to fix it and go after that plan."

Largest pilots union 'encourages patience' as delays mount

The largest pilots union in North America encouraged travelers Wednesday to be patient after the nationwide ground halt on flights as data from the tracking site FlightAware.com showed ongoing delays.

“We are in regular contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and will continue to work with them and airline managements to ensure our aviation system continues to be as safe as possible," the Air Line Pilots Association International said in a statement.

The group represents 67,000 pilots at 40 U.S. and Canadian airlines.

FlightAware showed delays of as many as 48% of flights for Southwest Airlines, 44% for American Airlines and 38% for United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the American Airlines pilots union said he respected the decision to issue the nationwide stop, as it was most likely necessary to ensure safe travel.

Still, "this shouldn't be happening," said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association. "This is a learning moment — but we have to get those moments down to a minimum."

This traveler is rushing home to perform plastic surgery

Deon J. Hampton

Performing plastic surgery was on the line if Dr. Robert Feczko didn’t make it home to North Carolina. 

His ski trip to Colorado ended as his Delta fight from Denver International Airport to Atlanta was delayed two hours. Complicating matters, Feczko, 37, would most likely miss his connecting flight to Raleigh, North Carolina, and push back the final stretch of his trip — a 90-minute drive home to Greenville, North Carolina.

Feczko said that he wanted to feel fresh to perform surgery Thursday morning but that before he left Colorado, he wasn’t sure whether he’d even make it home.

“I’m more concerned about my flight routing through Atlanta,” Feczko said, waiting in line to check his ski equipment. “I’m worried about tomorrow. I have a surgery at 7:30 a.m.”

Canada's air navigation service provider experiencing NOTAM outage

Canada's air navigation service provider, Nav Canada, was experiencing the same computer system outage the FAA did, it tweeted shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET.

"NAV CANADA's Canadian NOTAM entry system is currently experiencing an outage affecting newly issued NOTAMs, and we are working to restore function," the statement read. "We are not currently experiencing any delays related to this outage. We are assessing impacts to our operations and will provide updates as soon as they are available."

Vanessa Adams, a spokesperson for NAV Canada, said in a statement that the outage began at about 10:20 a.m. ET and that power was restored at about 1:15 p.m.

"We are still investigating the root cause of the failure," Adam said. "At this time, we do not believe the cause is related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today."

As of about 3 p.m. ET, both Toronto Pearson International Airport and Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport had average departure delays of 28 minutes (and increasing), while Ottawa International Airport had average arrival delays of 32 minutes.

Earlier Wednesday, Air Canada tweeted that all customers traveling to and from the U.S. should check the status of their flights on its website after the FAA outage.

More than a quarter of Air Canada flights — 123 — were delayed as of 3 p.m. ET, FlightAware showed, while 13 were canceled.

A delayed flight leaves one traveler in tears — and out of $500

At Denver International Airport, the computer outage delayed Mine Mizrak’s Southwest flight to Los Angeles and forced her to miss her connecting Turkish Airlines flight to her native Istanbul, where she planned to reunite with family.

Mizrak, a mechanical engineer, moved to Denver last year, leaving behind her mother and other relatives, whom she hasn't seen since.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for the past month,” she said, sitting down in a chair counting the time until her next flight departs. Once she does, her trip will become pricier.

While Mizrak, 25, paid $1,000 in airfare, she said, she’ll have to pay an additional $500 once she lands in California to ensure she gets home because of her missed flight at LAX.

“I’ve been crying, because I could’ve spent that money on something else in Istanbul,” Mizrak said. She said Turkish Airlines won’t reimburse her for the money because the outages didn’t affect international flights.

A Turkish Airlines spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry.

Buttigieg says no 'nefarious' cause found so far

American airlines, delta resume operations with ongoing delays.

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines resumed operations late Wednesday morning after the FAA outage, although with significant delays.

At 10:45 a.m. ET, more than 950 American Airlines mainline and regional flights had departed, according to information provided by the airline. 

As of 12:30 p.m. ET, just under 1,200 American Airlines flights were delayed, amounting to 40% of its flights, and more than 180 had been canceled, amounting to 6% of its flights, FlightAware reported.

In a statement, American Airlines said it was continuing to “closely monitor” the FAA outage and was “working to minimize further disruption to our customers and operation.” Customers whose flights were affected by the outage could rebook their travel for Wednesday and Thursday “without any additional fees,” the airline said, directing travelers to its website or its app for the latest flight information.

Delta was slightly less affected than American, with just over 1,000 flights, or 35%, delayed and 58, or 2%, canceled as of 12:30 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware.

Nearly half of Southwest flights delayed just weeks after mass cancellations

Nearly half of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed as of about 11:15 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware, making the already beleaguered carrier one of the most affected by the morning's outage.

More than 1,700 Southwest flights were delayed, amounting to 45% of its overall flights.

The latest delays come just weeks after the airline canceled thousands of flights in the travel-heavy days after Christmas, which it blamed on "operational challenges” following days of  severe winter weather .

In a statement provided to NBC News, Southwest Airlines spokesperson Dan Landson said the airline anticipates "some schedule adjustments will be made throughout the day."

"As always, we encourage Southwest Customers to check their flight status at  Southwest.com  or via our mobile app," Landson continued. "We’ve also posted a  Travel Advisory  on our website to highlight the flexible rebooking options being offered to Customers."

Chart: See the spread of flight delays Wednesday

Nigel Chiwaya

JoElla Carman

Jasmine Cui

Ground stops lifted at Chicago airports, though delays continue

Ground stops have been lifted at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports, the Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement shortly after 10 a.m.

"Residual delays or cancellations will likely continue throughout the day as a result of this morning’s outage," it said, adding that travelers should continue to check their flight status before heading to the airports.

As of about 10:45 a.m. ET, O'Hare was reporting average arrival delays of an hour and 16 minutes (and decreasing), and average departure delays of an hour and 39 minutes (and increasing), according to FlightAware . More than 200 of its flights — 23% — were delayed, and 39 flights were canceled.

Midway was experiencing average arrival delays of 48 minutes (and decreasing) and departure delays of an hour and 51 minutes (and decreasing), according to the tracking website . More than 40% of its flights — 116 — were delayed, and 22 were canceled.

FAA outage was a 'catastrophic system failure,' U.S. Travel Association CEO says

Wednesday's FAA computer outage was a "catastrophic system failure" and "a clear sign that America’s transportation network desperately needs significant upgrades," according to the head of the U.S. Travel Association.

"Americans deserve an end-to-end travel experience that is seamless and secure. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system," said Geoff Freeman, the president and CEO of the nonprofit and advocacy group representing more than 1,100 member organizations in the travel industry.

"We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure to ensure our systems are able to meet demand safely and efficiently,” he added in a statement.

Senior law enforcement official: No evidence of cyberattack

Ken Dilanian

A senior law enforcement official told NBC News that the FBI has seen no evidence that a cyberattack caused the computer outage that grounded thousands of flights.

Cyber security experts say the most common cause of problems like the one Wednesday is a bad software update.

What is NOTAM, the system that had an outage causing a nationwide flight fiasco

Most people will never have heard of "NOTAM," but it is the reason thousands of travelers were stuck in airports or stewing over delayed or canceled flights Wednesday.

The acronym stands for "Notice to Air Missions," and refers to the computer system that distributes "information essential to personnel concerned with flight operations but not known far enough in advance to be publicized by other means," according to a webpage on the Federal Aviation Administration website. (The page was no longer accessible shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET.)

The notices flag abnormalities such as "runways being closed for maintenance, ground stations being out, construction cranes that may be in the proximity of a runway," NBC aviation analyst Capt. John Cox said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe."

The notices are written in a specific format with "a unique language characterized by the use of specialized contractions" standardized by the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to the FAA . To the untrained eye, the notices look like a random series of letters and numbers.

“It’s a pretty extensive list that the crews get just before departure,” Cox said. “For this NOTAM system to be out — I don’t ever remember it failing before, and I’ve been flying 53 years, so it really is unusual.”

Buttigieg says DOT will seek to learn 'root causes' of meltdown

David K. Li

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg vowed that his agency will get to the "root causes" of the massive system meltdown that grounded flights across America.

Wednesday's FAA debacle is the latest airline headache that's impacted mass numbers of U.S. travelers. Buttigieg on Tuesday said his department would be holding Southwest Airlines accountable for its holiday season cancellations.

More than 540 Delta flights delayed, 14 canceled

More than 540 Delta flights were delayed as of 9:13 a.m. ET Wednesday, amounting to 19% of the overall, while 14 had been canceled, according to FlightAware.

The airline said in a tweet it was "safely focused on managing our operation during this morning’s FAA ground stop for all carriers."

Fiancé called just as he was about to board flight to reunite them

Henry Austin

After six weeks apart, Wyatt Cosich was about to board the plane taking him home to see his fiancé, Samantha Martinez, when she called and told him about thousands of flights being grounded.

Cosich, 22, told NBC News by telephone Wednesday that he was lining up to get on the plane at San Antonio International Airport, set to take off at 6:15 a.m. local time (7:15 a.m. ET), when Martinez, 23, said they would have to be separated for a little while longer.

“I was really looking forward to seeing her,” Cosich said of Martinez, adding that he had traveled to Texas from their home in Newton, North Carolina, for a job opportunity. He added the pair were getting married Sept. 9.

“There about five gates and around 200 to 300 people here,” he said, adding that airport staff had been providing regular updates to passengers, although most of the time they had been saying, “no more news.”

Unlike some passengers who he said had been getting frustrated with the delays, Cosich said he was calm and while it was unclear when and how he would get home, he praised the airport staff for their professionalism: “They’ve been great.”

FAA says ground stop has been lifted

Jason Abbruzzese

American Airlines: 'We're closely monitoring the situation'

American Airlines — which had just over 100 of its flights canceled and nearly 300 delayed as of 8:20 a.m. ET, according to the flight tracker FlightAware — said in a tweet just before 8 a.m. ET that it is "closely monitoring the situation and working with the FAA to minimize customer disruptions."

FAA says some departures resuming from Atlanta and Newark

Photo: the departures board at ronald reagan airport in washington.

Expert: Domestic flights won't be back to normal until Thursday or Friday

NBC aviation analyst Capt. John Cox said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that domestic flights won't return to their normal schedules until Thursday or Friday given the "domino effect" of the delays and cancellations caused by the nationwide computer outage.

"There's a domino effect to this — airplanes move around the world, and consequently, as an example, an airplane that's trapped in New York, in four hours, is expected to be in Los Angeles, in five hours. And so the people in Los Angeles that are depending on that airplane, their flight will be either delayed or canceled, and the airplane would then say, 'Go to Hawaii, and then come back,'" he said. "So you've got all of these airplanes moving around throughout the day."

"I think it'll certainly be tomorrow at the earliest, and potentially the day after, before the system's back to 100%," Cox added.

2,512 flights to or out of the U.S. delayed, flight-tracking site says

The tracking website FlightAware reported that 2,512 flights had been delayed leaving or entering the United States by 7:56 a.m. Wednesday.

Total cancellations stood at 254.

White House: No evidence of cyberattack right now but DOT doing 'full investigation'

All american airlines flights from paris delayed, airport operator says.

All American Airlines flights from Paris have been delayed until further notice, Groupe ADP, an international airport operator based in the French capital, told NBC News on Wednesday.

Air France, meanwhile, said its flights from the U.S. were going ahead as planned and were not affected by the FAA notice, and it understood that the problems with the system would be fixed soon.

United delays domestic flights until 9 a.m. ET

United Airlines said in a statement Wednesday it had temporarily delayed all domestic flights until at least 9 a.m. ET.

"The FAA system that sends out important real-time flight hazards and restrictions to all commercial airline pilots — Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) — is currently suffering a nationwide outage. United has temporarily delayed all domestic flights and will issue an update when we learn more from the FAA."

In a tweet, Southwest Airlines urged customers to check the status of their flights in the Southwest app or on its website.

FAA pauses all domestic departures until 9 a.m. ET

Flight radar shows aircraft over the united states at 7 a.m. et.

Sec. Buttigieg tweets he's been in touch with FAA

Hundreds of flights already affected.

Chantal Da Silva

About 760 flights within, into and out of the U.S. were delayed as of around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to online flight tracker  FlightAware . Around 90 flights were listed as canceled.

“Operations across the National Airspace System are affected,” the FAA said in a statement.

“The FAA is working to restore its Notice to Air Missions System. We are performing final validation checks and repopulating the system now,” it said.

Click here to read the full article.

FAA still working to restore computer system