Travel Chaos As Thousands of Flights Cancelled

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Good morning,

Don’t call it a comeback. The thick smoke pouring down from Canada’s record wildfires has been blanketing parts of the Midwest. The picture above is Chicago, which on Tuesday afternoon was home to some of the worst air quality on Earth.

Things should get a bit better today for the Midwest. But forecasters say New York will likely be back in the crosshairs today and tomorrow as winds shift.

Mosheh, Jill, & Courtney

🗞 SUMMER TRAVEL TROUBLES

The summer travel season is just getting started and the situation at the nation’s airports has been… meh. Airlines have canceled more than 7,000 flights since Saturday in the U.S., and delayed tens of thousands more.

It is a combination of some bad regional weather + air traffic controller shortage + pilot shortage + antiquated Federal Aviation Administration equipment. Below was the Flight Radar view of Laguardia Airport Tuesday night, as they were running out of places to put planes awaiting takeoff.

“THE FAA FRANKLY FAILED US THIS WEEKEND.”
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says the FAA staffing and inexperience is partly to blame. He sent a letter to United employees earlier this week blaming the FAA for travel disruptions this past weekend at Newark Airport, one of United's busiest hubs:

• "The FAA reduced the arrival rates by 40% and the departure rates by 75%.... It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position.”

  • He said that it “put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening.”

AIRING OF THE GRIEVANCES
In a statement, the FAA says it could use some help: "We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."

The FAA said it "paused" departures to D.C airports Sunday due to "repairs" being made to a communications system at an air traffic control facility in the region. The pause impacted flights across the Northeast.

United's public beef with the FAA is the latest in a long series of clashes between the airline and the agency. In September last year, the United CEO said the FAA was "by far the No. 1" cause of flight delays. Hours later, the FAA released data showing that airlines were the No. 1 cause.

THE FAA/AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL PROBLEM

The latest spat also comes just after a Department of Transportation report found the FAA continues to face staffing shortages for air traffic controllers, and has made "limited efforts" to ensure adequate staffing at critical air traffic control (ATC) facilities.

• The recent report found that 20 of 26 critical ATC facilities are staffed below the FAA's 85% threshold. The FAA's workforce has decreased over the last decade— a problem exacerbated by the pandemic, when training was paused for nearly two years.

• The probe found ATC towers were not adequately staffed, and that controllers were working mandatory overtime and 6-day work weeks to cover the shortage.

Notable: the FAA is asking for a funding increase from Congress this September. Details

We are hearing similar things from air traffic controllers who follow Mo News as well as pilots and flight attendants. See slide from Mo News IG below:

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
The latest problems come ahead of the busy July 4th travel weekend. Millions of passengers are getting ready to take flights over the next few days, with the TSA expecting to screen 2.82 million people at airports across the country on Friday alone. That surpasses a post-pandemic record set on June 16.

⏳ SPEED READ

📌 Supreme Court rules against giving state legislatures unchecked control over federal elections. The justices rejected the “independent state legislature" theory, which would have restricted the power of state courts to review certain election laws. (NBC NEWS)

📌 Your boss now has to accommodate pregnant workers, from morning sickness to abortion care. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act went into effect this week—requiring employers provide accommodations to pregnant women. (19TH NEWS)

📌 NYC is cleared for first-in-US congestion tolls as soon as April; Motorists may start paying new tolls as early as April 2024 (BLOOMBERG)

📌 Malaria cases in Florida and Texas are first locally acquired infections in U.S. in 20 years, CDC warns (CBS NEWS)

📌 Two planes linked to Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, seen at Belarus airbase in satellite image (CNN)

📌 Pickleball injuries may cost Americans nearly $400 million this year (CNN)

📌 How Greta Gerwig got Barbie—from the clothes to the Dream House—just right (TIME)

📌 Actor Julian Sands died while hiking in California (AP)

📌 Costco cracks down on membership card sharing (CNBC)

📌 Harry and Meghan produce a Hollywood flop: Themselves (WSJ)

📌 Man is sentenced in $9 million cow manure ponzi scheme (NY TIMES)

📌 ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Ryan Seacrest will take over hosting duties when Pat Sajak retires (VARIETY)

📌 What Is Tomato Girl Summer? Everything You Should Know About TikTok’s Juicy Fashion Trend (PEOPLE)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JUNE 28

• 1846: The Saxophone was patented on this day by Belgian inventor Adolphe Sax. His idea was to create an instrument that combined the best qualities of a woodwind instrument with the best qualities of a brass instrument. The first Sax was initially made out of wood.

• 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by Serbian nationalists in Bosnia. The murder was the immediate cause of World War I.

• 1971: The Supreme Court unanimously overturned former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali's conviction for draft evasion.

• 2007: The American Bald Eagle is removed from endangered species list. Thanks to conservationists, America’s national bird recovered from near extinction.