Major accidents, uncertain economic future creating a drop in demand for domestic flights
Spring break is around the corner for many families, but confidence in air travel is hitting some turbulence.
Major airlines say bookings are down following January’s midair collision over Washington, D.C. that left 67 people dead and the crash landing in Toronto last month.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is now calling for tech upgrades in air traffic control centers, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also started using AI to identify possible safety hotspots at about a dozen airports across the country.
Washington, D.C. is a spot with big changes after 67 people were killed in the January crash.
The DOT is also now banning most helicopters over the river around Reagan National Airport in D.C. after a report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed thousands of incidents in recent years where planes and helicopters flew too close to each other. Nearly 100 incidents were considered near-misses.
“There were 15,214 occurrences, or close proximity events, between commercial airplanes and helicopter, in which there was a lateral separation distance of less than one nautical mile and a vertical separation of less than 400 feet,” said Jennifer Homendy, Chair of the NTSB.
RELATED: DC plane crash: NTSB calls for immediate changes at Reagan airport
American Airlines is reducing capacity after less travel, and United also says government travel is down by 50%. Meanwhile, Delta expects revenue to be down $500 million, or 4% less than it anticipated this quarter. The reasons being a lot of uncertainty about the economy and two recent major plane incidents.
Despite domestic travel taking a hit, international travel is still going strong. Airline officials believe that will be the case this summer.