(NewsNation) — With flight cancellations and delays making for a chaotic travel week, many are looking for someone to blame — but disagree on who.
AAA expects there to be record numbers of people flying this July 4 weekend. The company projected in a Tuesday release that 4.17 million Americans will fly to their destinations, an increase of 11.2% over 2022 and 6.6% over 2019.
“The share of air travelers in the overall holiday forecast this year is an impressive 8.2% – the highest percentage in nearly 20 years,” Triple AAA said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg echoed these predictions in an interview with Raquel Martin of Nexstar’s DC bureau.
“This is a very busy travel weekend. We may see some of the highest rates of travel since before the pandemic,” Buttigieg said. “The biggest thing I want people to know, whether you’re an airline passenger or you’re getting on the roads, is that our top priority is going to be your safety.”
Air travel this week has been stressful for many. Since last Saturday, there have been more than 8,000 cancellations and close to 43,000 delays, according to data from FlightAware.
Severe weather and storms last weekend forced delays and cancellations, mainly in the Northeast.
Cancellations were going down the Friday before the July 4th weekend,and airlines were starting to bounce back, according to a tweet from Buttigieg.
“Yesterday, cancellation rates continued to fall as the airspace recovers from severe weather. United’s disruptions are elevated but moving in the right direction,” Buttigieg said. “FAA continues to monitor weather and smoke and is engaged closely with airlines to address potential disruptions.”
On Friday, there were over 1,870 total delays into or out of the United States, and more than 300 total cancellations.
Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, which has carried the bulk of the disruptions, has blamed understaffing at the Federal Aviation Administration for the issues, saying in a memo to employees the agency “failed us,” citing “staffing issues” and the agency’s ability to manage traffic.
NewsNation partner The Hill reports that United has had 3,000 flights canceled since Saturday.
Unions for pilots and flight attendants say company leadership needs to step up, and the FAA has said it’s the airlines that cause delays and cancellations.
The FAA has said it will “always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.”
To Nexstar, Buttigieg said the FAA is in “constant touch” with airlines to mitigate operational issues.
“We’re pressing the airlines to handle everything that’s under their control, we’re working ourselves on anything the FAA can control with air traffic control, and then we’re collaborating on things that we can do to work together to make sure more aircraft get to where they’re going on time,” Buttigieg said.
Back in April, in an effort to avoid any potential meltdown from the combination of issues such as record travel and understaffing, the FAA offered major airlines the chance to cut back on the number of flights at certain airports in the New York and D.C. areas.
