Ted Cruz says the feds, not the weather, are to blame for flight cancellations and delays

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) calls out the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration for blaming the weather for flight delays, instead blaming staffing levels and inexperience for the more than 5,400 flight cancellations since SATURDAY.

The DOT blames the weather. The reality is that the DOT has known since March that it does not have the necessary controllers to handle air traffic in the Northeast, the senior Senate Commerce Committee member tweeted Wednesday afternoon. The blame game doesn’t work when you’ve admitted blame all along.

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The DOT blames the weather. The reality is that the DOT has known since March that it doesn’t have the controllers to handle air traffic in the northeast. The blame game doesn’t work when you’ve admitted blame at the start. https://t.co/MDYvWoYFET 2/x

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 28, 2023

A series of flight cancellations began on Sunday after the FAA briefly suspended operations at airports in the Washington, DC area due to a problem with the communications system. However, departures resumed once the repairs were completed. After a few storms in the New York area, United Airlines canceled more than 2,200 flights, including nearly 800 on Tuesday. The airline also canceled 17% of its flights and delayed 34% on Wednesday.

In March, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on airlines to reduce their East Coast flight schedules during the summer travel months, after the DOT sounded the alarm over low staffing levels. at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility, which provides airspace support. New York and New Jersey airports.

Cruz continues to sound the alarm on the situation. In April, he wrote a letter requesting information on the agencies’ ability to deal with congestion and air traffic control shortages. A dispute in the Senate Transportation Committee over measures affecting pilot training has stalled progress toward reauthorizing FAA funding, which is due to expire in September. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has yet to reschedule the markup, and senators who serve on the panel were unable to provide a timeline for next steps.

If you’re sitting on the tarmac at JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark, you can thank the politicians and special interests — who blew up the committee markup of a bipartisan FAA bill two weeks ago — for puts local interests before the efficiency of our nations airspace, Cruz said in the Twitter thread. The staffing of the FAA’s air traffic facilities in New York is 54%. Still, the DOT blames the weather for the delays. Nonsense, he said in a later tweet.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby also blames the FAA, sending a memo to staff saying the weather in New York is something the FAA has historically been able to handle without a serious impact on our operations and customers. .

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The FAA released a statement in response to Kirby’s letter.

We will always work with anyone seriously willing to join us in resolving a problem, the agency said.

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