The flight chaos in the United States has impacted more than 1.2 million travelers over the weekend, according to figures from an industry association.
A massive shortage of air traffic controllers in the US continued to cause significant disruptions on Monday: more than 2,250 flights were canceled and over 8,100 were delayed. The background to this is a weeks-long budget dispute, which has forced controllers to work without pay. While US President Donald Trump threatened the controllers with consequences and sharply called on them to return to work, a compromise to end the conflict is beginning to emerge in the US Senate. The crisis is escalating just before the critical Thanksgiving travel period and now threatens to impact transatlantic flights vital to Germany, potentially affecting airlines such as Lufthansa. The disruptions are occurring in an already strained market. Just last week, British Airways parent company IAG reported declining demand on North Atlantic routes, further exacerbating the current situation for airlines.
(Reporting by David Shepardson. Written by Isabelle Noack. For inquiries, please contact our newsroom at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).
