Aviation attorney Mark Dombroff and former Department of Transportation general counsel Stephen Bradbury discuss the FQQ software outage that grounded airlines across the country on “Fox Business Tonight.”
An airline chief executive is warning travelers that other carriers will not be able to serve all the flights they plan to operate this year.
And that will lead to more disruption.
United Airlines chief Scott Kirby said airlines operating as if it were still 2019, before the pandemic, will struggle.
According to Kirby, the industry has a shortage of pilots and other workers, outdated technology and strain on the Federal Aviation Administration.
NEW PILOT CONTRACTS TO INCREASE COSTS AT US AIRLINES
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and Delta Air Lines Executive Vice President John Lauter testify before the Senate committee hearing. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS/Reuters Photos)
“The system just can’t handle the volume today, much less the expected growth,” Kirby said. “There are a number of airlines that cannot meet their schedules. Customers pay the price.”
Kirby used the problems Southwest Airlines experienced over the holidays without naming the carrier.
Southwest had to cancel nearly 17,000 flights in late December after a winter storm disrupted the schedule and overwhelmed the airline’s crew scheduling system.
“What happened over the holidays was not a one-time event caused by the weather, and it was not just at one airline,” he said. Alaska, Spirit and Frontier also had double-digit cancellation rates at the end of December.
A United Airlines Boeing 777 passenger plane arriving at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. (istock/iStock)
HOLIDAY FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS: KNOW YOUR AIRLINE’S POLICIES AND BEST OPTIONS
Kirby made the remarks during a call with analysts and reporters on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
Kirby noted the investment his airline has made in technology, having more flight attendants than before the pandemic, maintaining more spare planes and not pushing the schedule too much.
United Airlines planes are parked outside the gates of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey ((AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) / AP Newsroom)
UNITED AIRLINES PLACES MASSIVE BOEING DREAMLINER ORDER
Those moves, however, raised United’s cost per mile flown, not counting fuel, by about 15 percent over 2019 levels.
After the stock market closed Tuesday, Chicago-based United reported a fourth-quarter profit of $843 million and forecast 2023 earnings will easily beat Wall Street forecasts.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Ticker Security Last Change Change % UAL UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. 48.86 -2.34 -4.57%
Shares of United Airlines Holdings Group Inc. lost 4.6% on Wednesday and another 1% in extended trading.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add Comment