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IPFS News Link • Transportation: Air Travel

US Domestic Flights Could Completely Shut Down Due To Pandemic

• Zero Hedge - Tyler Durden

According to officials, no final decisions have been made - yet airline execs, pilot-union leaders and federal transportation officials are increasingly viewing a halt to flights as inevitable given that passenger flight schedules have already been decimated.

U.S. airlines have already eliminated the vast majority of international flying and have announced plans to cut back domestic flying by as much as 40%. Travelers are staying home at even greater rates. The Transportation Security Administration reported that passenger flow at its checkpoints was down more than 80% Sunday from the same day a year earlier. -WSJ

Thanks to virtually empty flights with passengers numbering into the single digits, thousands of flights were canceled on Monday. Planes that did take off were emptier than ever before - such as one flight between New York's LaGuardia and Washington DC which had just three passengers.

Over 40% of flights have been cancelled by American Airlines and United according to Flightaware.com, while some airline officials have predicted that planes will be even emptier later in the week.

Airlines are preparing for the possibility that contagion-driven staffing emergencies at air-traffic control facilities could force the issue, making it impossible to continue operating in parts of the country.

Airport towers at Chicago's Midway International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas remain closed after nearly a week of cleaning.

President Trump and his advisers have been reluctant to mandate a cessation of commercial flights nationwide, some of these officials said, partly because passenger jets also carry a large portion of U.S. mail and essential cargo shipments. Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House's virus task force, told CNN, "There's no plan today, or tomorrow to seriously consider" mandating an end to domestic passenger air travel. -WSJ


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