ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is handing out pamphlets informing Sunport travelers about the impacts of the government shutdown.
Watch the video above to hear from employees who are directly impacted.
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is good news for Kerala expats travelling frequently. Soon, they will be able to fly from the country to any global destination at discounted rates. Norka-Roots, a public sector undertaking of the Non-Resident Keralites (NRK) Affairs Department, has entered into negotiations in this regard with major air carriers, including Emirates, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Indigo and others.
“We will soon ink a pact with Qatar Airways. Negotiations with Emirates, Kuwait and Indigo are progressing at the right pace,” said K Varadarajan, resident vice-chairman, Norka-Roots. In August, Norka had entered into a pact with Oman Air which assured seven per cent cut in airfare for their travel to or from India.
Varadarajan said once Norka and Qatar Airways enter into an agreement, the latter can offer NRK a 10 per cent cut in airfare, which could be availed for return flights also. “The offer can be availed by NRKs possessing the Norka-issued identity card. In our agreement with Oman Air, we didn’t have the space for bargaining. However, with Qatar Airways willing to provide a 10 per cent discount, we expect others to follow suit,” Varadarajan said.
Norka-Roots CEO Harikrishnan Namboothiri said discussions were mainly being held with airlines offering services to Gulf countries. NRK Affairs Department feels the cut in airfare will provide some respite to those expats who travel three to four times a year.
‘Discounted rates are not a permanent solution’
Kerala Pravasi Welfare Board chairman P T Kunhimohammed told Express, “It is known that forces of demand and supply govern airfares. Ensuring discounted rates cannot be surmised as an everlasting solution.”
“The key is to develop the Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery as an international hub. This will mean arrival of more international airlines to the state, which will positively impact the fluctuating airfare, ” Kunhimohammed said.
Earlier, while handling complaints on skyrocketing airfare, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had said travel by air was a contractual matter between the airline and the passenger and was commercial in nature. It had also highlighted that as per the prevailing regulation, every air transport undertaking engaged in scheduled air services was free to establish tariffs having regard to all relevant factors, including the cost of operation, generally prevailing tariff and others.
U.S. aviation officials have compiled data that statistically support, for the first time, Trump administration statements that the partial government shutdown hasn’t jeopardized air-traffic-control safety.
The data, according to one person briefed on the details, indicate that serious traffic-control deviations—incidents of planes coming dangerously close to each other in the air or on the ground—have remained flat from levels a year ago. Such incidents are typically captured by computers and other automated means.
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A flight from Phoenix to Chicago faced a harrowing landing when the plane rolled off the snowy runway.
United Airlines flight 656 slid off the runway at O’Hare International Airport late Saturday morning after departing from Sky Harbor International Airport.
Natalie Noonan, a spokeswoman with United Airlines, said the plane rolled off the concrete runway because of weather conditions. There were no reported injuries and passengers were taken off the plane and bused to a terminal.
The Chicago Tribune reported that firefighters helped the plane’s 129 passengers off the aircraft and that the runway had been inspected 30 minutes before the incident.
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Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Hong Kong were left stuck on the ground for more than 14 hours in frigid weather with a dwindling supply of food.
The nightmarish incident began when the 3:05 p.m. flight was diverted to the Goose Bay Airport in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador due to a medical emergency. The plane
, and medical personnel met the aircraft and a passenger was taken to a local hospital.
But as the flight was set to take off again, it experienced a mechanical issue.
That’s when the waiting began.
Passengers were not allowed to leave the airplane because the Goose Bay Airport did not have a customs officer on duty during the overnight hours. Saturday bled into Sunday, and still the flight remained grounded.
Sonjay Dutt, a passenger on the plane, said on Twitter that the plane’s door had broken and that they were stuck on board as the weather dipped to negative-20 degrees outside. Unable to leave for hours upon hours, he began tweeting at United for help, saying that they were running low on food.
On Sunday morning, Goose Bay officials brought on donuts and coffee from Tim Hortons, the classic Canadian fast food restaurant.
United had food delivered to the passengers and “the crew is doing everything possible to assist customers,” a United spokesperson said.
Finally, after more than 14 hours, Dutt was able to get off the plane with the rest of the passengers.
“Its been a long long long long day,” he tweeted.
Lloyd Slade, another passenger on the plane, said he was “just very tired, at this point” on Sunday. “Cabin/flight crew have been excellent and very helpful (United HQ/dispatch, not so much.)”
An alternative aircraft containing meals for the passengers was flown to Goose Bay to transport customers back to Newark.
“We apologize to our customers and our crew is doing everything possible to assist them during the delay,” the company said.
Passenger Steven Lau thanked those who brought Tim Hortons on board.
“(I) feel partly relieved to be on a new plane, but the crew is still loading bags and preparing the aircraft, so not certain when we’ll actually take off,” he said. “It’s nearing 24 hours since we originally took off from Newark, so we’re all feeling restless and frustrated. I’m just ready to be off the plane and finished with this experience.”
Lau said some passengers on the flight had decided to scrap their trips entirely in the wake of the overnight stay on the tarmac. He is planning to wait to see how United can get him there ASAP, he said.
Airline pilots have a message for the president: for safety’s sake, end the shutdown.
In a letter addressed to President Trump, the Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 61,000 US and Canadian pilots, urged that immediate steps be taken to end the government shutdown due to the dangerous effect it’s had on “safety, security and efficiency of our national airspace system.”
The shutdown’s most obvious impact on air travel was seen fairly quickly with TSA workers—forced to work without knowing when or if they’ll receive a paycheck—prompting some to call in sick or to quit altogether. But the letter illuminates how the shutdown is affecting safety in ways that aren’t as visible to the public as long security lines.
According to the letter, penned by the association’s president, Joe DePete, a number of factors have compromised the safety of planes and airspace. One of the more alarming issues being that planes aren’t being inspected as thoroughly as they should be. Indeed, citing the lack of inspectors as well as “manufacturing oversight activities” the letter states that, “These safety and oversight inspections will potentially allow for the introduction of safety issues that put passengers and airline crews at risk.”
And it’s not just the immediate safety of air travel that has pilots concerned. There are factors that will continue to be affected even if all furloughed personnel were to return to work today. The shutdown is causing delays to the implementation of a new communications program. Air traffic controllers and pilots are unable to train properly and so will likely need to be retrained which will not only have to be done at great expense but will also delay the full implementation of what the letter calls an “important airspace system upgrade.”
Lastly, the letter calls attention to the hardship being imposed on those doing the necessary work without the safety of a paycheck. “They are dutifully providing safety of life services while facing increasingly difficult financial pressures to provide for those dependent on their paycheck,” states the letter. “The pressure these civil servants are facing at home should not be ignored.”
The letter itself was dated January 2, but concerned members of the aviation industry and federal employees continue to make their concerns heard. With the shutdown drawing a close to its third week, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, along with other industry representatives and associations, held a rally today in front of the capitol in order to protest the shutdown. While speaking at the rally, DePete put it starkly, stating that, “The aviation economy is at stake. People’s livelihoods are at stake. Safety is at stake.”
On twitter Friday, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association pleading for travelers to call their members of congress to let them know that the government shutdown needs to end now. According to the NATCA, the number of air controllers are already at a 30-year low, which leaves the training and hiring of new air traffic controllers impacted if the shutdown is long-term. Schilling says, “If it’s months, certainly there can be some degradation in the ability to get controllers on the scopes and get them working. If it’s years, it certainly would have an impact.”
BOSTON (AP) — A major winter storm brought some of the coldest temperatures of the season and covered a large swath of the country in snow as it wreaked havoc on air travel and caused slick road conditions throughout New England Sunday.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings or advisories for part or all of at least 15 states stretching from southeast Missouri to the northern tip of Maine ahead of the weekend storm.
Nearly 2,000 flights were canceled around the country Sunday, with Boston’s Logan Airport being one of the hardest hit, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking company.
Typically bustling security lines, ticketing counters and baggage claims were largely deserted Sunday morning at Logan Airport, but some stranded passengers lingered.
“We’ve been sleeping, playing Candy Crush,” said Xavi Ortega, a 32-year old engineer whose 10:30 p.m. flight to Barcelona was canceled.
Ortega said he and his wife, who reside in the Spanish city, slept overnight at the airport and wouldn’t be able to get onto another flight until Sunday night.
Meanwhile residents along the heavily populated coast from New York to Boston awoke Sunday having largely escaped major snowfall but bracing for plummeting temperatures that will likely lead to a hard freeze and potentially dangerous conditions.
Manhattan saw mostly rain, cities along Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts’ coast recorded two to five inches, but mountainous interior communities were blanketed in fresh snow.
The Adirondacks in upstate New York recorded up to 20 inches in certain areas while western Massachusetts’ Berkshires saw as much as 10 inches. Parts of the Vermont have registered a foot of snow and could see up to another foot by the time the storm is over.
Nicholas Nicolet and his 6-year-old son Rocco welcomed the fresh powder as they cross-country skied on the sidewalks of Montpelier, Vermont early Sunday morning during the storm.
“We think it’s great,” said Nicholas Nicolet.
Meteorologists warned the primary concern now is plunging temperatures that will be some of the coldest felt so far this season.
Wind chills were expected to hit in the teens in the New York City area, 25 below in Albany and down to 40 below in the Adirondacks.
In New England, they’re expected to fall to as low as 20 below zero around Boston, 30 below zero in the Berkshires and as low as 35 below zero in parts of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.
Officials warned people to limit their time outside to prevent frostbite and avoid treacherous travel conditions. They also said to prepare for flooding and power outages in places.
“It’s life-threatening,” said Ray O’Keefe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany. “These are dangerous conditions that we’re going to be in and they’re prolonged, right through tomorrow.”
As of Sunday at noon, utilities in Connecticut were reporting more than 19,000 customers without power and more outages were expected in the region as ice accumulated on trees and power lines.
“We had more freezing rain and sleet than we expected,” observed Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin as he extended his city’s parking ban so public works crews could clear streets before the ice hardened.
Amtrak canceled some trains Saturday from Chicago to Washington and New York and between New York and Boston and Pennsylvania on Sunday.
A ferry service route across Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York was also closed Sunday and flights were mostly cancelled at Vermont’s Burlington International Airport and New Hampshire’s Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
The powerful, wide-ranging storm was caused by the clash of an Arctic high-pressure system with a low-pressure system coming through the Ohio Valley.
It caused travel problems as it dumped up to 10 inches of snow on parts of the Midwest Saturday.
In Chicago, a plane skidded from a slick runway at O’Hare International Airport. No injuries were reported. In Kansas, a snowplow driver was killed when his vehicle rolled over. And in southeastern Missouri, slippery conditions caused a 15-vehicle crash on Interstate 55.
President Donald Trump urged Americans affected by the winter storm to “be careful” in a tweet early Sunday, but, as he’s done in the past, he conflated the short-term weather phenomenon with longer-term climate change.
The White House’s own
recently rejected the idea that a particular plunge in temperatures can cast uncertainty on whether Earth is warming.
“Amazing how big this system is,” Trump tweeted. “Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!”
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Associated Press reporters Bob Salsberg in Boston, Deepti Hajela in New York, and Lisa Rathke in Montpelier contributed to this story.
Associated Press reporters Bob Salsberg in Boston, Deepti Hajela in New York, and Lisa Rathke in Montpelier contributed to this story.
One of them, Sonjay Dutt, reached by phone, said the plane was underheated and that the arrival of the food and coffee was not enough to appease increasingly angry passengers.