By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The head of a trade group representing major U.S. airlines will call on Wednesday for permanently ending aviation disruptions during government shutdowns by ensuring
air traffic controllers and other key workers are paid.
Airlines for America, the group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and others, will tell a U.S.
Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee that the 43-day government shutdown and government-imposed flight cuts disrupted 6 million passengers and 50,000 flights because of rising air traffic controller absences.
"This shutdown has demonstrated the serious safety, human and economic consequences of subjecting the aviation sector to this kind of stress and chaos. It must never happen again," A4A CEO Chris Sununu will say, according to his written testimony.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels also backed the call for legislation to ensure controllers and other workers are paid during shutdowns.
"We cannot continue to ask air traffic controllers and their families to bear the burden of policy disagreements in Congress," Daniels' testimony says.
The FAA, citing aviation safety concerns, imposed unprecedented flight cuts at 40 major U.S. airports on Nov. 7 that were lifted Monday. Those restrictions led to 7,100 flight cancellations and impacted 2.3 million passengers.
Late Friday, the FAA halved the domestic flight-cut requirement from 6% to 3%. Even with the cut, major U.S. airlines were not complying with the required flight cuts at U.S. airports. Carriers on Sunday canceled just 0.25% of flights at those 40 airports — less than normal cancellations — according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
The FAA could seek a fine of up to $75,000 for every flight operated above the mandated limits and the FAA said it was reviewing reports of noncompliance.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Many had been working mandatory overtime before the shutdown and last year, controllers at 40% of FAA facilities worked six days a week at least once per month.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
