Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Flight Delays Increasing Heading Into A Possible Record-Breaking Travel Weekend
An already-packed weekend of air travel is already suffering from flight delays and cancellations, and with 2.8 million people expected to fly tomorrow. While some delays and cancellations were caused by severe weather, they’re not the only reported problem. Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control operations are suffering from staffing shortages, with airline capacity down 10% compared to the second quarter of 2019. In a statement yesterday, United said they “expect to cancel far fewer seats today compared to yesterday and our baggage backlog at Newark has dropped more than 30% since Tuesday.” United CEO Scott Kirby blamed the FAA for their problems last weekend in a Monday memo, saying “The FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaking at a South Carolina event yesterday, said that problems are better than they were last year, but said he had his own problems making it to the event. Buttigieg said he had one flight canceled and another delayed. 20-thousand flights have been either delayed or cancelled this week.
2 Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Says Economy Is "Quite Resilient"
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at a conference organized by the European Central Bank yesterday and he took an optimistic tone. Powell said that a recession is “certainly possible,” but it’s not “the most likely case.” Powell told the audience at the conference in Sentra, Portugal, that “The U.S. economy has actually been quite resilient.” When asked by a reporter if the Fed might switch to increasing interest rates “every other meeting” after not recommending an increase at their last meeting, Powell said that no decisions had been made about future increases, but it was still possible to see increases in consecutive months. While Powell was in Portugal, President Joe Biden gave a speech in Chicago where he bragged about the effectiveness of what he called “Bidenomics.” Saying that he’s created more jobs than any other president, his approval ratings among voters don’t seem to agree that he’s doing a good job with the economy. Only 34% of U.S. adults polled approved of Biden’s handling of the economy, which is even lower than his overall 41% approval rate. In the same poll, 72% of Democrats said they approve of his job performance overall, but only 60% said they approved of his work on the economy.
3 Delta Plane Lands Safely At Charlotte Airport With No Front Landing Gear
A terrifying ordeal had a happy ending yesterday at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport yesterday morning. A Delta flight notified air traffic control that they were declaring an emergency after the front landing gear on the plane didn’t deploy as the plane was getting ready to land. The pilots flew by the airport’s air traffic control tower to let officials “visually inspect the plane,” where they saw that the doors for the front landing gear were open, but the gear hadn’t lowered into place. The pilots made what’s been described by passengers as a smooth landing, with no injuries reported among the over 100 people aboard. The runway remained closed after the landing yesterday to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to inspect the plane before it’s moved. The FAA estimated yesterday that the runway should reopen tonight.