就在航空公司说的之前这可能是阵亡将士纪念日旅行最繁忙的周末在新冠肺炎之前，交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格分享了他的部门是如何为潜在的破纪录季节做准备的。
Buttigieg在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说:“我们肯定会有非常高的需求水平，大量的流量和对系统的巨大压力。”
空中交通管制员的持续短缺是整个系统中断的部分原因，但蒂吉格说，即使关键设施仍低于目标，交通部仍在继续雇用和培训管制员。
“如果你看看最佳数字，我们希望达到的数字，它比我们现在所处的位置要高。这就是为什么我们正在招聘这么多员工，这就是为什么我们正在努力确保随着这些(白宫和国会之间的)谈判的进行，我们能够获得预算，让我们继续加快招聘的步伐，”他说当前支出谈判在国会山。
美国主要航空公司在假期周末之前都在宣传他们的预期乘客人数和时间表。联合航空公司表示，他们正在为十多年来最繁忙的阵亡将士纪念日做准备，预计将运送近290万名乘客。
与此同时，达美航空公司表示，预计假期期间将运送280万名乘客，比去年增长17%。美国航空公司表示，它将运送超过290万名顾客，运营超过26，000次航班。
这些数字强调了航空业的从疫情低点持续反弹尽管一些服务期已经被重大航班延误和取消。
当被问及他是否认为航空公司可以满足高需求时，Buttigieg说，他的部门一直在“敦促”公司在调度方面更加现实，并积极支持这些努力，以避免更多头条新闻崩溃。
“在纽约空域，我们与航空公司合作，允许有更大的飞机，这意味着更多的乘客和更少的起飞，这意味着更少的拥堵，”Buttigieg说。
“总是有一个问题，航空公司是否正确地调整了他们的时间表，他们承诺了他们带来的资源和人员，包括足够的缓冲来处理可能出现的情况，”他说。“听着，天气总是会变的，你必须准备好应对这些问题，并尽快回复正常。”
2023年1月31日，纽约市，交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格在西区场就哈德逊河隧道项目发表演讲。
迈克尔·圣地亚哥/盖蒂图片社，文件
在美国航空公司增加延误和取消航班后去年夏天，但蒂吉格称这种中断是“不可接受的”
现在，这位部长说，他已经看到“今年将有很多改进”，但“不能保证夏天会很好。”
“我们一直在敦促航空公司在他们控制和合作的范围内做得越来越好。”Buttigieg说。
拜登政府最近宣布，将寻求要求航空公司向消费者提供更多补偿，包括餐饮和酒店，如果他们被滞留，这是航空公司的错。
批评者称，如果这项规定实施，最终会将成本转嫁到消费者身上。但是tigieg说他不买那个。
“你看，每当我们制定规则或试图让公司承担责任时，他们往往会这么说。但我们已经知道这是一种可行的方法，因为许多其他国家都有要求航空公司赔偿乘客的规定，也有非常有竞争力的机票，”他说。
进入夏季，各种飞行员团体和航空公司之间的谈判正在进行，一些工会投票批准罢工。
虽然飞行员罢工在美国发生的可能性非常小，但Buttigieg说，“我们敦促各方在合同生效的每个领域达成协议，并理解作为航空系统非常重要的一部分的飞行员期望得到良好的补偿，以及他们对生活质量的担忧。航空公司需要能够运营他们的业务。”
Pete Buttigieg says Transportation Department is working to avoid summer travel disruptions
Just ahead of what airlines saycould be the busiest Memorial Day weekend for travelsince before COVID-19, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is sharing how his department is prepping for the potentially record-breaking season.
"We know for sure that there is going to be a very high level of demand, a lot of traffic and a lot of pressure on the system," Buttigieg said in an interview with ABC News.
Amid an ongoing air traffic controller shortage that's been partly to blame for disruptions across the system, Buttigieg said the Transportation Department continues to hire and train controllers even as key facilities remain below targets.
"If you look at the optimal numbers, the numbers we like to be at, it is higher than where we are right now. That's why we're doing so much hiring, and it's why we're pushing to make sure that we get a budget as these negotiations go on [between the White House and Congress] that allow us to continue to pick up the pace on that hiring," he said, referring tocurrent spending talkson Capitol Hill.
Major U.S. airlines are touting their expected passenger numbers and schedules ahead of the holiday weekend. United Airlines said it's preparing for its busiest Memorial Day in more than a decade, expecting to carry nearly 2.9 million passengers.
Meanwhile Delta Air Lines said it's expecting to fly 2.8 million customers over the holiday -- a 17% increase from last year. And American Airlines said it will carry more than 2.9 million customers, operating over 26,000 flights.
Those numbers underline the airline industry'scontinued bounce-back from its pandemic loweven as some service periods have been marred bymajor flight delays and cancellations.
When asked if he thinks airlines can meet the high demand, Buttigieg said his department has been "pressing" the companies to be more realistic with scheduling and actively supporting those efforts in order to avoidmore headline-grabbing meltdowns.
"In the New York airspace, we worked with airlines to permit an approach that would allow there to be larger aircraft, which means more passengers with fewer departures, which can mean less congestion," Buttigieg said.
"There's always a question whether airlines are properly aligning their schedules that they're promising with their resources and staffing that they bring to the table, including enough of a buffer to deal with situations that may come up," he said. "Look, there's always weather, and you have to be ready to absorb those issues and respond and get back to normal as quickly as possible."
After increased delays and cancellations among U.S. carrierslast summer, Buttigieg called such disruptions "unacceptable."
Now, the secretary said he's seen "a lot of improvements coming into this year" but it's "no guarantee that summer is going to go well."
"We've been pressing the airlines to do better and better on things that are under their control and collaborating." Buttigieg said.
The Biden administration recently announced it would seek to require airlines to provide consumers with boosted compensation, including meals and hotels, if they are left stranded and it's the airline's fault.
Critics say if the rule is put in place, it would end up passing the cost on to consumers. Buttigieg said he doesn't buy that.
"Look, any time that we do a rule or we try to hold companies accountable, they tend to say this. But we already know that this is an approach that can work because there are many other countries that have rules that require airlines to compensate passengers and also have very competitive airfares," he said.
Heading into summer, negotiations are ongoing between various pilot groups and airlines, with some unions voting to authorize strikes.
While the probability of a pilot strike occurring in the U.S. is very slim, Buttigieg said, "We're urging the parties to come to agreements in each of the areas where a contract is in play and understand that the pilots who are a very essential part of the aviation system expect to be compensated well, and their quality-of-life concerns, too. And airlines need to be able to run their business."
