Airlines Call on the FAA for Help As Thousands of Flight Disruptions Hit the East Coast

U.S. airlines have called on the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to extend a waiver that allowed them to cut back on service.

As thousands of flight disruptions on Monday due to severe storms spanned across the East Coast, U.S. airlines have called on the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to extend a waiver that allowed them to cut back on service.

More than 8,900 flights were delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Monday and another 1,768 were canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, as the storms slammed the East Coast from Tennessee all the way up to New York. Most disruptions were centered around the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (known as the busiest airport in the world), which saw more than 590 outbound flight delays, or about 48 percent of its entire schedule, along with more than 500 inbound delays, amounting to about 41 percent of the schedule.

Delta Air Lines, whose hub is based in Atlanta, saw the most delays of any carrier with more than 1,300 in addition to more than 440 cancellations.

As a result of the severe storms, at least two people died and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power, the Associated Press reported.

Airlines continued to struggle to recover on Tuesday morning as more than 1,400 flights had already been delayed and more than 300 had already been canceled.

The flight issues came as Airlines for America, which represents major carriers across the country, asked the FAA to extend a temporary waiver allowing carriers to cut back on flights through October 28 at New York and Washington D.C.-area airports, according to a letter sent to the FAA and viewed by Travel + Leisure. The waiver was first granted in the spring due to an air traffic control staffing shortage and is currently set to expire on Sept. 15.

“While operational reliability during the past few months has been challenging even with the relief provided, it would have been materially worse if [the] FAA had not taken this action,” Airlines for America wrote in the letter, adding “air traffic control staffing and extreme weather are unique circumstances beyond our control that merit a limited and conditional waiver of slot usage rules until the system can stabilize. Granting relief for the rest of the summer season is in the best interest of the flying public because it will minimize disruptions and provide greater predictability for airlines and consumers.”

The waiver affects flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The waiver was granted amid a dramatic air traffic control staffing shortage. Airlines for America said the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control facility remains just 54 percent staffed.

The FAA told Reuters on Monday it "is in the final stages of review and will decide soon."

Last month, United Airlines announced plans to cut back on flights from its Newark hub in an effort to avoid prolonged flight disruptions, dropping down to about 390 flights per day compared to the pre-pandemic 435 flights per day the carrier flew out of Newark.

Several airlines have also started to cut back on midweek service to meet demand, including Southwest Airlines, Allegiant Airlines, and Frontier Airlines.

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