Airline disruptions over holiday weekend reflect chronic industry-wide challenges

As predicted, thousands of flights were canceled or delayed over the holiday weekend – but the blame isn’t only on airlines, one expert says.

“It's a conglomerate of problems that have come together in an unholy alliance that have created this, and it's all forged by the pandemic and the steep decline in passenger flights,” A.C. Roman & Associates CEO and former FAA commercial pilot Anthony C. Roman told Yahoo Finance Live (video above).

The flight disruptions during the July 4 weekend came as a record 2.8 million Americans traveled by plane on Friday alone, per the FAA. According to FlightAware, 3,800 flights were canceled and 45,000 were delayed in the past week, frustrating customers and airlines themselves, who have pointed fingers at the FAA.

The ongoing instability in the aviation industry has a complex backstory, and it originates from the pandemic, Roman said. During that time, airlines announced mass layoffs, and pilots, flight attendants, and baggage handlers took early retirements, he said. The industry turbulence was compounded by a lack of infrastructure investment to modernize airports and vital FAA technology for tracking planes. Flight controller shortages have hurt as well.

All of that has forced airlines, airports, and the FAA to solve multiple problems at the same time.

“I think we’re close to the breaking point,” Roman said.

However, he pointed to some signs that could ease travelers’ frustration in the months to come. For example, United Airlines (UAL) has offered passengers who suffer “significant delays” or cancellations 30,000 miles in flight points. Other airlines, like Delta (DAL), are faring better because they have invested more in infrastructure intended to avoid flight issues, Roman explained.

Facing regular turmoil, airlines are lobbying the FAA and Congress to take urgent steps to confront problems in the industry. Despite objections from some pilot groups, a House panel last month voted to raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67, which would “help immensely” by keeping Baby Boomer pilots in the air for longer, Roman said. The House is expected to consider the bill this month.

In the long term, both the FAA and airlines are accelerating efforts to recruit, hire, and train air traffic controllers and pilots, which Roman said will help improve air traffic management in a year or two. For now, though, holiday weekends like July 4 continue to see challenges.

“All of that is surging now, and you have all of the problems trying to be solved at once,” Roman said. “It's going to take several years to do this.”

Jared Mitovich is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @jmitovich

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