United Airlines CEO Holds FAA Accountable for Recent Flight Disruptions

The CEO of United Airlines is blaming the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a series of travel disruptions this past weekend.

According to Reuters.com, United CEO Scott Kirby told the airline’s employees that the FAA’s issues with “staffing and inexperience” resulted in thousands of delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the carrier’s busiest hubs.

As a result of the storms that continued through the weekend into the early work week, airlines were forced to cancel more than 5,400 domestic flights since Saturday. In a letter to employees, Kirby blamed the issues on the FAA.

“As you know, the weather we saw in EWR is something that the FAA has historically been able to manage without a severe impact on our operation and customers,” Kirby said. “This past Saturday, however, was different.”

“The FAA reduced the arrival rates by 40 percent and the departure rates by 75 percent,” Kirby continued. “That is almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA. It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position.”

FAA officials admitted that it was forced to “pause” departures to the Washington D.C. area due to a computer failure at an air traffic control facility in the region. The issues caused delays and cancellations in the northeast that were exacerbated by the bad weather that started on Sunday.

In response, an FAA spokesperson said the government agency would be willing to “collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.”

Last year, Kirby and other airline executives said the FAA remains part of the problem regarding delays and cancellations. The CEO also said during a Global Aerospace Summit that the government agency needs more air traffic controllers.