U.S. airports remain in chaos this week. Hundreds of flights were canceled on Tuesday, following a weekend that saw over 14,000 flights canceled and thousands of people stranded at the airports. Almost half of the flights are delayed or canceled in recent weeks at some major airports. Turmoil!
Where is Pete? The Transportation Secretary summoned airline bosses to a virtual meeting where he berated them to honor the schedules they published.
But airline execs privately call him “Pass-the-Buck Buttigieg.” As aviation analyst Gary Leff of ViewFromTheWing.com writes:
“While Buttigieg is scolding airlines over their operational performance he isn’t actually doing things within his power to help fix it.” (Sounds like his boss!)
Airlines are shedding staff as a result of the three rounds of COVID airline subsidies he pushed and because of the welfare benefits that pay people not to work.
He failed to move to repeal the rule that pilots have a minimum of 1500 hours of flight time before they can be hired, a sop to pilot unions. European airlines have no such limit.
Then there is the problem at the ports with cargo ships. Buttigieg has toed the union line that the Jones Act, which requires US crews and US ships to transport goods, be maintained even though it drives up prices in places for poor poplin Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
And this is the man in charge of dealing with the Supply Chain Crisis, and also one of the left’s top candidates for President in 2024.
