Buttigieg on Projected 45% Increase in Flight Delays: Our Interventions ‘Have Made a Big Difference’

On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reacted to the FAA projecting a 45% increase in flight delays in the New York sector in the summer of 2023 over the summer of 2022 by stating that “the interventions that we had last summer, I think, have made a big difference,” “as we head into spring break and into the summer, I think that many of those improvements are going to pay off,” but the agency is going to do further work to improve air travel.

Co-host Don Lemon asked, “[Y]ou’re in Texas as part of the Biden administration’s Investing in America tour to highlight improvements the administration is making to air travel and to infrastructure. The agency has announced that Americans could see a 45% increase in flight delays this summer. Why are you still expecting such huge delays?”

Buttigieg responded, “Well, we’re doing everything that we can to make sure that airlines take good care of passengers. And the interventions that we had last summer, I think, have made a big difference, first of all, seeing the rate of those cancellations and delays improve over the course of the summer, going into Thanksgiving, and importantly, when they do happen, making sure that passengers are taken care of. Going into last summer, almost none of the top ten airlines guaranteed things like meals or hotel vouchers or ground transportation or re-bookings. Now, nearly all of them do because of the work that we’ve been doing, and we’re going to keep pushing. Now, as we head into spring break and into the summer, I think that many of those improvements are going to pay off, but airlines are still recovering from the pandemic. We’re working on things with the FAA as well. Although, air traffic control, I want to emphasize, is not the reason for the majority of delays and cancellations. And we’re going to stay on them to make sure that they take care of customers and passengers to make sure this year is better than last year and on into the future.”

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