US air travel delays will worsen during Labour Day weekend

28 August 2007

Starting Wednesday 29 August, nearly 16 million passengers, 2.6 per cent more than last year, will throng airports all over the US to fly away for the Labour Day weekend holiday, bringing to a head US aviation's summer of discontent; the worst season for air travellers in decades.

What is worse, the nation's highways are expected to be no less jammed. Driving is the traditional American way of travelling on holiday, and millions of Americans are expected to hit the country's remarkable interstate highway system.

What is more alarming this year is that while the end of summer vacation and the start of school will ease the holiday crowds, it may not be the end of problems for airline passengers. All indications are that more ordeals await travellers in the months to come.

In a nutshell, new airlines are coming up and existing airlines are adding planes. This means more flights to choose from and cheaper fares. But it also means more delays, bigger crowds and greater frustration.

To compound matters, pilots are in short supply and air traffic controllers are retiring at a record pace, making matters worse.

Delays have become endemic. During the first six months of 2007, nearly a quarter of all flights were delayed, the number of mishandled bags went up by 25 per cent and complaints shot up by nearly 50 per cent. This is the worst year since records have been kept since 1995.