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US airlines struggle to maintain minimum level of domestic service
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2020/04/09 09:43:16
THERE is uncertainty in the US over whether domestic airlines will stop flying or the US government will shut down the aviation system.
Either move is extremely unlikely, but air traffic is so depleted already that companies with cargo to move have few options for expedited transport by air, reported New York's FreightWaves.
There were only 154,000 domestic travellers at US airports recently, a 93 per cent decrease from normal levels, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Airlines which says flights are only 10 per cent full and many are nearly empty.
Last week, the governor of Hawaii imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travellers to the state, prompting Hawaiian Airlines and others to suspend most flights to Honolulu.
Southwest Airlines' new schedule for May through June 5 reduces flight activity by 40 per cent to 2,000 flights per day.
American Airlines is reducing domestic capacity up to 70 per cent in May. Alaska Airlines announced a 70 per cent reduction in available seats for the next two months and United is taking down 52 per cent of its domestic flights. Delta Air Lines has aggressively shrunk its flight schedule and Spirit Airlines is reducing capacity by 45 per cent in April from its previous plan and 75 per cent in May.
The Federal Aviation Administration might be forced to close airports if air traffic controllers test positive from Covid-19 and can't work, and control towers have to be disinfected. That's already happened for brief stretches at Midway Airport in Chicago and other locations.
In such circumstances, the government should consider consolidating air traffic centres by bringing flights into one of the airports where several exist in the regions, such as in Washington, where Reagan National, Washington Dulles and Baltimore International Airport lie within a 50-mile radius, said Airforwarders Association executive director Brandon Fried.
Either move is extremely unlikely, but air traffic is so depleted already that companies with cargo to move have few options for expedited transport by air, reported New York's FreightWaves.
There were only 154,000 domestic travellers at US airports recently, a 93 per cent decrease from normal levels, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Airlines which says flights are only 10 per cent full and many are nearly empty.
Last week, the governor of Hawaii imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travellers to the state, prompting Hawaiian Airlines and others to suspend most flights to Honolulu.
Southwest Airlines' new schedule for May through June 5 reduces flight activity by 40 per cent to 2,000 flights per day.
American Airlines is reducing domestic capacity up to 70 per cent in May. Alaska Airlines announced a 70 per cent reduction in available seats for the next two months and United is taking down 52 per cent of its domestic flights. Delta Air Lines has aggressively shrunk its flight schedule and Spirit Airlines is reducing capacity by 45 per cent in April from its previous plan and 75 per cent in May.
The Federal Aviation Administration might be forced to close airports if air traffic controllers test positive from Covid-19 and can't work, and control towers have to be disinfected. That's already happened for brief stretches at Midway Airport in Chicago and other locations.
In such circumstances, the government should consider consolidating air traffic centres by bringing flights into one of the airports where several exist in the regions, such as in Washington, where Reagan National, Washington Dulles and Baltimore International Airport lie within a 50-mile radius, said Airforwarders Association executive director Brandon Fried.