The weather has cleared in the Northeast, but airlines continue to cancel a high volume of flights in the New York metropolitan area, especially United.
At 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, 14% of flights scheduled out of LaGuardia had been canceled and 11% of Newark flights had been canceled, according to FlightAware.
United, which has a hub in Newark, continues to be the most trouble-plagued U.S. airline, having canceled more than 400 mainline flights Wednesday, accounting for 13% of its mainline schedule.
New York-based JetBlue had canceled 9% of its schedule. Endeavor, a subsidiary of Delta operating regional flights, had canceled 11% of its Wednesday schedule.
In a letter to United staff on Monday afternoon, Kirby blamed the airline's challenges on the FAA. United cancelled 11% of its mainline schedule on Sunday and 19% on Monday, FlightAware data shows. On Tuesday, the carrier cancelled 26% of mainline flights.
"The FAA frankly failed us this weekend," Kirby wrote.
He said that on Saturday, ahead of a storm, the FAA reduced arrival rates by 40% and departure rates by 75%.
"That is almost certainly a reflection of understaffing/lower experience at the FAA," Kirby wrote. "It led to massive delays, cancellations, diversions, as well as crews and aircraft out of position. And that put everyone behind the eight ball when weather actually did hit on Sunday and was further compounded by FAA staffing shortages Sunday evening."
Kirby said that he planned to be in touch with the FAA and DOT to discuss what steps they can take to prevent further problems this summer.
In a brief statement responding to Kirby, the FAA said, "We will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."
The agency said there were no staffing shortfalls in the Northeast on Monday or Tuesday. In March, the agency issued a notice stating that staffing at New York-area airports was 54% below its target. At the FAA's behest, airlines pared summer schedules in the New York area.
An audit published by the DOT's Office of Inspector General last week expanded on this issue, noting that 20 of 26 critical facilities nationwide are short-staffed, including the primary New York control center.
A notice put forward by the Association of Flight Attendants–CWA union to United members on Tuesday suggests that staffing challenges at United, caused by the operational problems, are slowing its recovery from the Sunday and Monday storms.
The union encouraged members who are stuck away from their home base to secure their own lodging rather than waiting for United do it after it assigned new flight schedules.
To entice flight attendants to accept extra trips, United management has agreed to pay three times the normal rate at designated stations that are short on crew until July 6, the notice says.