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Bloomberg
United Airlines Holdings Inc blamed the US Federal Aviation Administration and the nation’s air traffic control system for exacerbating the issues plaguing the industry, saying the agency has been overwhelmed by the volume of flights. The FAA rejected that criticism in a sharply worded rejoinder.
The carrier estimated that more than 50% of its delay minutes and 75% of its cancellations in the past four months were because of FAA actions to manage air traffic and flight capacity. Such initiatives include holding aircraft in flight, assigning specific departure times, ground delays and reroutings.
“There are just more flights scheduled industrywide than the ATC staffing system can handle,†particularly in New York and Florida, Jon Roitman, United’s chief operations officer, told employees in a letter. “Until that is resolved, we expect the US aviation system will remain challenged this summer and beyond.â€