thing called flight rights.gov, it is a burea bureaucratic, click here, which airlines will reimburse you. doesn t say call this number, we ll make sure you get it taken care of. we have such a pilot shortage in the country, air traffic controller shortage. i wish during covid they said when things get opened up again, we re going to need more people. here s an incentive program to get into the program now, learn how to do this. what are your thoughts on how we got here is what i am asking. how we got here as you mentioned is because of covid when a great majority of americans got used to not coming to work or getting a check in the mailbox rather than going to work. no surprise there s a worker shortage. i think every industry is feeling it, you see help wanted signs everywhere. when it comes to air travel, you had a vaccine mandate that pilots were not happy about, that caused a lot of them to
they have 3,000 positions they re trying to fill. last summer, this really kicked off the summer of meltdowns and cancellations, so this time the airlines say they re right staffed, right sized, flying fewer routes with fewer airplanes. transportation secretary pete buttigieg said this will be a test of the system, he said this in his press conference as transportation sescretary at th d.o.t. headquarters. they want everyone to have great travels this coming weekend and summer. we re doing everything we can to press airlines to deliver that good service. if there s an issue, we have your back. so the big thing now is the air traffic controller shortage and that is what the airlines are pointing to. they re saying the delays could be on the federal government this time around. there s been a blame game back and forth going on for about a year now. we ve done some new reporting and we found at a key facility at the faa that it handles
something that pete buttigieg spoke about during his meeting, talking about the plans for a successful summer of travel following months of problems, that included thousands of delays, cancellations and near misses on the runway. one thing leading to the problems is the air traffic controller shortage, and during that meeting buttigieg noted we are still thousands short. take a listen. the optimal numbers i would like us to be at are about 3,000 north of where we are. hiring 1500 this year. i think it will be a while before we are at the levels we would like to see, especially in some more challenging areas like n90 and the new york market, jacksonville is a concern, too. so passengers are paying around $273 per domestic flight this weekend. and those that we have spoken to here, they are frustrated with the slow pace of recovery and the inconsistency with air travel.
new york city there this morning. 6:35 a.m. new york has become the first state to ban natural gas and other fossil fuels in most new buildings. this new law banning gas stones, furnaces and propane heating, all interest cooking and heating is required in new buildings over 7 stories. on the national level, not that long ago, a federal official suggested and then retracted that idea that could tl could be a country wide ban causing outrage among republicans. summer travel kicks off a few weeks from now. airlines are facing, again, a major problem. air traffic controller shortage. aviation experts are warning this shortage could affect your plans to travel and fly this summer. let s go to our aviation correspondent just outside of washington. so, they re trying to hire a bunch of them or what?
better and it did, and aircraft had collision avoidance, etcetera. but now pilots and others complained that some of that equipment is not functioning as it should. and not all airports have the collision, avoiding equipment, especially for taxi collision avoidance aircraft moving around on the ground and, yes, united states decrease the separation. and now with this air traffic controller shortage, the only thing that is going to save lives is increasing the separation and that s why the faa has to do this. and again. this is an faa problem and the faa caused it. they have to fix it. mr scavo. good to see you. thank you. back after this. mm. popcorn. disaster darling, we need poly grip before crispy popcorn. let s fix this power holding seal gives us strongest hold and five times food seal. if your mouth could talk, it sleep number climate. 3 60 smart