* The Washington Post…

United Airlines had canceled more than 560 flights as of Wednesday evening, a fourth day of heavy disruptions that mark the airline’s most turbulent stretch since demand for air travel bounced back two years ago.

Since Saturday, United has canceled more than 2,300 flights, including almost 800 on Tuesday — the carrier’s worst single day since the early weeks of the pandemic. The carrier saw 20 percent of its flights canceled and 39 percent delayed Wednesday.

The airline has been shaken by storms in the New York area that have caused setbacks at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of its major hubs. JetBlue, which also has a heavy presence in the region, has also been affected with nearly 90 flights canceled Wednesday. Among all carriers, more than 1,000 flights were canceled nationwide.

The disruptions were set to continue, with the Federal Aviation Administration issuing ground stops for Newark and LaGuardia Airport because of thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon. The continued bad weather raises the prospects of a troubled start to the July Fourth holiday weekend.

* Crain’s…

CEO Scott Kirby called out the FAA in a note to employees Monday, blaming the agency that oversees air traffic control systems for United’s problems. “The FAA frankly failed us this weekend. The FAA reduced the arrival rates by 40% and the departure rates by 75% (on Saturday),” The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported. “That is almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA. It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions as well as crews and aircraft out of position.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has been pushing for stronger passenger protections when flights are canceled or delayed, says it’s wrong to blame air-traffic control for many of the operational problems plaguing the airlines.

Buttigieg said on CNN Primetime Wednesday night that he has spoken to Kirby. He also said: “Look, United Airlines has some internal issues they need to work through. They’ve really been struggling this week, even relative to other U.S. airlines.

“But where we do agree is that there need to be more resources for air traffic control. That’s why we’re hiring 1,500 more controllers this year. We got plans for another 1,800 controllers next year. And working with Capitol Hill to get more resources in terms of staff and technology.

* ABC…

The latest spat also comes just after DOT’s Office of Inspector General found the FAA continues to face staffing shortages for air traffic controllers, and has made “limited efforts” to ensure adequate staffing at critical ATC facilities.

The OIG’s report found that 20 of 26 critical ATC facilities are staffed below the FAA’s 85% threshold. The FAA’s Certified-Professional-Controller workforce has decreased by 10% over the last decade, the audit found.

The problem was exacerbated by the pandemic, the audit found, when training was paused for nearly two years.      

Throughout its probe, officials interviewed managers at various ATC facilities who said their towers were not adequately staffed, and that controllers were working mandatory overtime and 6-day work weeks to cover the shortages.

* CNN…

The problems with flight delays and cancellations that have plagued US travelers this week are mostly over — except at struggling United Airlines.

Tracking service FlightAware shows that there are 487 flights to, from or within the United States that have been canceled as of noon ET Thursday and another 2,000 delayed. For canceled flights, the problem is clearly focused on United, with 383 of those cancellations. That means 13% of United flights scheduled for Thursday were already canceled, or nearly one out of every seven. […]

Even before Thursday, United was the focus of the problem, with nearly 3,000 flights canceled since Saturday, or 36% of the industry total. United declined to give CNN an estimate of affected passengers, but based on United’s typical passenger volumes from previous earnings reports and the number of canceled flights, there were likely more than 400,000 passengers booked on canceled United flights.

There were likely more than 1 million passengers booked on the 8,000 canceled flights industrywide, based on statistics from aviation analytics firm Cirium and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

* Sun-Times…

Friday is projected to be the busiest travel day at O’Hare, when 231,000 passengers are expected to come through the airport. At Midway, the busiest travel day is projected to be Saturday, when the airport will see about 58,000 passengers.

By Wednesday afternoon, nearly 3,500 U.S. flights were delayed and over 800 were canceled across the country, according to data from FlightAware. Of these disruptions, O’Hare saw over 350 flight delays and over 100 flight cancellations while Midway experienced about 85 flight delays and only one flight cancellation as of Wednesday afternoon.

Pat Mullane, a spokesperson for United Airlines, O’Hare’s largest carrier, said severe weather in the Northeast caused United to delay and cancel flights in Chicago. Mullane added that United flights have not been affected by Chicago’s air quality, which is listed by the federal government as “very unhealthy” due to smoke from Canadian wildfires.

John Monk, a 77-year-old who lives in South Carolina, said he experienced multiple flight delays and gate changes at O’Hare with United while flying back to the U.S. on Tuesday after a monthlong trip throughout Europe with his wife and 17-year-old granddaughter. Monk and his family were flying from Rome to Charlotte, North Carolina, with a layover in Chicago that was initially meant to be about five hours but turned out to be closer to eight hours.

* More background from CNN…

The US air travel system is unable to recover quickly from widespread weather problems because it doesn’t have the bodies to deal with the disruptions.

Despite $54 billion of taxpayer funds funneled into airlines to keep them alive during the pandemic, most airlines greatly reduced staff during the first year of the pandemic when air travel, and fares, plunged. They were not allowed to involuntarily layoff staff but they did offer buyouts and early retirement packages. Many also permanently grounded older, less efficient aircraft. Rehiring staff has taken longer than planned.

The result has been that domestic US airline capacity, as measured by the number of available seats adjusted for miles flown, is still down 10% in the current quarter compared to the second quarter of 2019, ahead of the pandemic, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. […]

This Friday, at the start of the four-day July Fourth holiday weekend, is projected by the Transportation Security Administration to be the busiest air travel day since the start of the pandemic.

* Related…

* Live and Let’s Fly | United Airlines offers flight attendants 300% incentive as it rebounds from rough week: We want to express our gratitude for your support in picking up the 300% offer, as it significantly benefits our flying partners. Your dedication is crucial, and we sincerely thank you for standing with us. It is our commitment to ensure that management provides reliable support to Flight Attendants amidst this disruption.

* The Hill | Flight disruptions stretch into fifth day: Nearly 200 JetBlue flights, just less than 20 percent of all its flights, were delayed on Thursday. JetBlue has a hub airport at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

* CBS | United Airlines passengers see another day of chaos at Denver International Airport: “Oh, there’s people on the floor in every concourse, old people, young people, people sitting in wheelchairs, it’s awful,” Moston said. “If I’m being honest, I want to say I want to find a really good class action lawsuit, because there’s probably 5,000 other people that would join me. And you know, there’s really no offering of help for any of these people that are here stranded.”