Boston Airport Shuttle: United Airlines flight attendants hit the lines of protest outside Logan International Airport on Tuesday. The protest comes amid the airline’s struggles with the possibility of delays of tens of thousands in the past few months.
Per FlightAware, United has delayed up to 67,485 flights and canceled more than 6,780 on May 1, 2022. This is just the latest setback to the struggling business.
“A company of the large as United should be able to offer their employees to give us the tools we require to complete our work correctly,” United AFA Boston president Andrew Fahy said.
Fahy stated that the company has problems with their schedule desk. Crew members cannot get hold of them when delays and cancellations occur. This keeps them at the airport rather than helping with other flights.
“We were waiting for five, six, and 7 hours on a daily schedule,” Fahy said. “If we don’t manage to get contact from our company, we can’t get our company to move us to where we’re required to be to bring our passengers to where they are required to go.”
The aviation industry is also facing an issue with a shortage of pilots, as one flight school stated that 700,000 pilots would be required in the next decade.
Bridgewater State is having trouble finding flight instructors. Pilots learning to fly often instruct other pilots to accumulate the required flight hours to become commercial pilots. When they reach the number, airlines take them on.
Republic Airways petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cut down on the time it takes to fly for their education program, LIFT Academy. LIFT Academy has its headquarters in Indianapolis. However, students who do not want to stay and teach at LIFT can accumulate flight hours working at Cape Air in Massachusetts.
They argue that their education is comparable to army training that is counted based on flight times. The FAA has recently rejected the plan. In the statement, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford stated that the proposal would have helped improve the airline service.
“Despite the claims in opposition, the proposal we propose will improve the safety of students by providing them with the most structured, specific approach to training,” Bedford said. “The evidence shows that our method is effective and could provide an impressive career in aviation for students unable to take part in this exciting career while also helping to tackle the declining air service that affects the 90 million Americans in smaller and mid-sized communities.
It’s a shame that when the country is struggling to provide quality air services and needs a new strategy to improve air service, the FAA has not given a chance to have an honest discussion on this issue or to tackle it with the intention of cooperation.”
