Buttigieg Warns Americans Flying Over July 4 to Brace for ‘Challenges’ Amid Airline Labor Shortages

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg listens to a question during a press conference following a tour of a Southside transportation hub in Chicago on July 16, 2021. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has warned that Americans could face “challenges” when it comes to traveling on the July 4 holiday amid chronic labor shortages and unpredictable weather.

In an interview with “NBC Nightly News“ on June 28, Buttigieg said ”there are going to be challenges“ with air travel but that officials are keeping a close eye on the situation and communicating daily with airlines about ”their responsibility to make sure that they can accommodate issues“ such as unpredictable weather and any other ”curve balls” that may be thrown their way.

The labor shortages come despite airlines receiving over $50 billion in COVID-19 relief designed to keep employees at work amid the pandemic.

Buttigieg noted that while that money was aimed at preventing layoffs in the airline industry, “a lot of people, including pilots, were nudged into early retirement by the airlines,” adding “that certainly is something that reduced the labor force that, right now, we’re really counting on.”

“Often, we’re hearing the lack of a pilot ready to go cited as an issue or a problem that’s contributing to a delay or a cancellation,” Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg’s comments come as there were 437 delayed flights and 433 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States as of the evening of June 28, according to tracking site FlightAware.

Since Memorial Day, airlines have canceled over 20,000 flights, while there have been 173,000 delays, according to NBC.

Wave Of Complaints

Those cancellations have triggered a wave of complaints against airlines by customers including those who have faced significantly longer lines at check-in, and crowded airports.

Airlines have in turn placed the blame for cancellations on the air traffic control system’s inability to handle unpredictable weather and heavy air traffic.

“The majority of cancellations and the majority of delays have nothing to do with air traffic control staffing but when there is an issue, we’re working that issue,” Buttigieg said, pointing to the Jacksonville Air Traffic Control Center in Florida which has faced staff shortages, space launches, and military activity that have impacted the air space, along with weather issues.

Buttigieg said that transport officials had worked with the Jacksonville center to create solutions to fix those issues.

“We have had our challenges with air traffic control but they do not explain the majority of the cancellations and delays that we’ve seen out there,” he added.

When asked when the situation regarding air travel would improve, the transportation secretary said that he expects airlines across the country to be working “right now” to address their issues, adding that it was their “responsibility” to do so.

“A lot of people, including me, are expecting to get to loved ones over this holiday weekend, and we need a system that is resilient enough to get them there, plus good customer service when an issue does come up,” Buttigieg said.

Labor Shortage Continues

Buttigieg’s comments come as AAA predicts that 3.5 million Americans will be traveling by air over the holiday weekend, with air travel volumes set to reach 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels on Independence Day, marking a 164 percent increase compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to experience a chronic labor shortage, with nearly two job openings for every unemployed person.

The number of available positions decreased to 11.4 million in April, down from nearly 11.9 million in March, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, published on June 1, while the number of people quitting their jobs remained at a high of 4.4 million in April.