"At last", travellers will think. The end of the shutdown The "strike" in the United States, which among other things paralysed air transport, has come to an end. But if the air traffic controllers are paid again and return to their posts, traffic conditions will not be normalised immediately.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), flight reductions at 40 major US airports will remain at 6%. They were originally due to rise to 10% by the end of the week. The reduction in the number of aircraft movements was implemented last week as more and more air traffic controllers went on sick leave, citing stress and the need to take a second job. With control towers understaffed.
This 6% reduction in movements will remain in place until officials decide whether the air traffic control system can safely return to normal operations, said Transport Secretary Sean Duffy.
A rapid recovery with some effects to be expected over several days
Delta Air Lines was the first to react with optimism. Its CEO, Ed Bastian, declared in an interview on CBS that " The system should return to normal by the end of the week. Thanksgiving will be a great time to travel"he promised.
The improvement is already significant. According to the online flight tracking site FlightAware, nearly 8,300 flights will still be delayed and some 600 cancelled this Friday 14 November. Yesterday, the site still counted more than 20,000 cancellations and delays. Again according to FlightAware, the number of delayed or cancelled flights should fall to just over a hundred tomorrow.
Airlines for America, the association of US airlines, estimated that its members will have fully restored flight operations before the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month. It warned, however, that residual effects of the shutdown could still be expected for several days.
