Raphael Stevens

WARRENTON, Va. – During a morning meeting in early May, staff at the federal air traffic command center rattle off a few of the day’s obstacles: storms near the Florida coast and in Texas, a military aircraft exercise, and a report of a bird strike at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The center, about an hour’s drive from Washington, D.C., is responsible for coordinating the complex web of more than 40,000 flights a day over the U.S. Shortly after 7 a.m. ET, there were already 3,500 flights in the air. During peak travel periods, that figure can climb to more than 5,000 flights at once. 

As air travel rebounds to near pre-Covid pandemic levels even as airlines remain understaffed, the agency and carriers are trying to control the rising rate of delays and cancellations that can ruin vacations and cost airlines tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
The problems are coming during the high-demand spring and summer travel season, which also coincides with some of the most disruptive weather for airlines — thunderstorms.
LaKisha Price, the air traffic manager at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center, said staff are monitoring potential problems in the nation’s airspace “every day, every hour.”
The center is staffed 24/7.

The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center.
Erin Black | CNBC

From the start of the year through June 13, airlines canceled 3% of the roughly 4 million commercial U.S. flights for that period, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Another 20% were delayed, with passengers waiting an average of 48 minutes.

Over the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, 2% of flights were canceled and 17% delayed, with a similar average wait time, according to FlightAware.

LaKisha Price Air Traffic Manager at the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center
Erin Black | CNBC

Typically, the FAA manages the flow of air traffic in part by holding inbound traffic at originating airports or slowing arrivals.
Flight cancellations and delays last year and in 2022 have raised concerns among some lawmakers.

No easy fixes

With no quick fix in sight, the FAA and airlines are scrambling to find other solutions. One option has been allowing airlines to fly at lower altitudes to avoid weather challenges, even though the approach burns more fuel.
Airlines are coming up with their own solutions, too. In April, American Airlines launched a program called HEAT that analyzes traffic and potential disruptions, which lets it identify which flights to delay as early as possible to avoid a cascade of cancellations.
“We can start hours in advance, in some cases five, six hours in advance of what we believe the storm is going to be,” said David Seymour, American Airlines’ chief operating officer.
“We’ve got to be able to be very nimble and adaptive to the scenario as it plays out,” he added.
The pandemic slowed air traffic controller training, but the FAA hired more than 500 new controllers last year to bring its workforce to about 14,000. The agency wants to hire more than 4,800 more over the next five years. The FAA said it is in the middle of a hiring a campaign called “Be ATC” and said it will work with social media influencers and hold Instagram Live events about the job.
The job isn’t for everyone. Applicants can be no older than 30 and must retire when they turn 56. Pilots in the U.S. are forced to retire at 65 and airlines are currently facing a wave of retirements, some of which were sped up in the pandemic when carriers urged them to leave early to cut their costs. Lawmakers this year have been considering a bill that would raise the pilot retirement age at least two years.

Storms in Texas

Back at the command center, the cavernous room where air traffic specialists, airline and private aviation industry members, and meteorologists work features large screens showing air traffic and weather high along the main wall. It shows a bird’s-eye view of the country’s air traffic, which has been rebounding so fast that fares are outpacing 2019 levels.
“The problem is Texas right now,” John Lucia, national traffic management officer at the center, during one of the morning meetings. He was pointing to a cluster of thunderstorms that were threatening to delay dozens of flights at east Texas airports.
He noted the weather was set to hit the Dallas-Forth Worth area at around 10 a.m.
“So it gives us a couple hours to worry about it,” said Lucia, a more than three-decade FAA veteran.
Last year, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport became the world’s second busiest thanks to booming U.S. travel and a dearth of international trips. The airport is the home hub of American Airlines. Nearby is also Dallas Love Field, the home base of Southwest Airlines.
Inclement weather causes 70% of U.S. flight delays in an average year, according to the FAA. But there are other reasons for delays, too.
“We’ve seen people streaking on the runway,” said Price, the center’s air traffic manager. “We’ve had wildlife on the runways. You have to be ready for everything.”

Florida congestion

Some of the most congested airspace has been in Florida. The state has long been a top tourist destination, but became even more of a hot spot during the pandemic for travelers seeking outdoor getaways. Some airports like Tampa and Miami are seeing higher numbers of airline capacity compared with before Covid-19 hit.
At the same time, the state is prone to thunderstorms that can back up air traffic for hours. Airlines and the FAA have sparred over who’s at fault, with carriers sometimes blaming air traffic control, including ATC staffing shortfalls, for delays which cost them by the minute.
One solution from airlines has been to pare down their flying despite surging demand. JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Airlines and most recently, Delta Air Lines, have trimmed their schedules back as they grapple with staffing shortages and routine challenges like weather, to give themselves more backup for when things go wrong.
In May, the FAA organized a two-day meeting with airlines in Florida about some of the recent delays. Afterward, the FAA said it would ramp up staffing at the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, which oversees in-air traffic in five states — Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and North and South Carolina — and tends to deal with challenges from bad weather, space launches and military training exercises.

Arrows pointing outwards

The FAA stopped short of capping flights serving Florida but had said it would help airlines come up with alternative routes and altitudes.
For example, the agency is also routing more traffic over the Gulf of Mexico, Price said.
Spring and summer thunderstorms are among the most difficult challenges because they can be so unpredictable.
American’s Seymour said the airline can still improve, “We’re continuing to look to find better ways to get to manage these situations.”

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The United Arab Emirates’ Media Regulatory Office announced it would ban Disney Pixar’s “Lightyear” based on what it said was “violation of the country’s media content standards.”
The ban comes despite an announcement last year that the country would no longer censor films.

Tim Allen and Tom Hanks voice Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody in Pixar’s “Toy Story.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Disney Pixar’s animated movie “Lightyear” hits theaters this week and is expected to draw enthusiastic “Toy Story” fans from a number of countries around the world.  
Not in the United Arab Emirates, though. 

The UAE’s Media Regulatory Office announced Monday it would ban the movie’s release, based on what it said was “violation of the country’s media content standards,” the office wrote in a tweet. The feature film was scheduled for release in UAE theaters on Thursday.
The government body didn’t specify in its tweet which part of “Lightyear” violated its content standards, but Executive Director Rashid Khalfan Al Nuaimi told Reuters it was based on the the inclusion of homosexual characters. The movie features a same-sex relationship and brief kiss.
The decision received mixed reactions online, with some Twitter users praising the move.
“Thank you so much for saving our children,” one user, whose bio contained UAE flags, said in response to the tweet.
Others criticized the ban, with one user writing, “A country still living in the 1300s.” 

As of late Tuesday in Dubai, “Lightyear” was still advertised as premiering on Thursday on the UAE’s Vox Cinemas website. Disney did not immediately return request for comment from CNBC.

An inflatable Disney+ logo is pictured at a press event ahead of launching a streaming service in the Middle East and North Africa, at Dubai Opera in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June 7, 2022.
Yousef Saba | Reuter

Homosexuality is criminalized in the UAE, as well as the rest of the Gulf countries and the majority of the Muslim world. According to entertainment news website Deadline Hollywood, “Lightyear” won’t be playing in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt or Indonesia — the latter being the most populous Muslim country in the world with 274 million people. 
It also won’t be playing in Malaysia, according to a tweet by the country’s major movie theater chain GSC, which posted a photo of Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear character and the words, “No beyond” — a reference to the character’s catchphrase, “to infinity and beyond.”
The UAE ban comes despite an announcement last year that the country would no longer censor movies. That change was part of a broader raft of modernizing reforms including the decriminalization of premarital sex and a shift from the Islamic weekend (Friday-Saturday) to the Saturday-Sunday weekend, in a push to be more competitive globally and attract additional foreign investment and talent. 

Woman sunbathers sit along a beach in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 24, 2020, while behind is seen the Burj al-Arab hotel.
KARIM SAHIB | AFP via Getty Images

For years the UAE has cast itself as a modern, tolerant haven in an otherwise highly conservative region. The oil-rich desert sheikhdom is home to a 90% expat population, and allows drinking alcohol, wearing bikinis on public beaches, and other cultural elements often forbidden in Muslim countries.
Its nightclubs resemble those in Europe, it regularly hosts concerts of famous rappers and pop stars, and it even relaxed the penalties on some of its drug laws last year. In 2016, it established a Ministry of Tolerance.
Homosexuality, however, remains taboo in the country. When the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, published an Instagram post featuring a rainbow and expressing its support for the LGBTQ+ community, it was met with backlash from users within the country.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. Embassy has celebrated LGBTQ+ rights in the UAE. Last year, it raised the Pride flag on its premises, marking the first time any diplomatic mission has flown a gay pride flag in the religiously conservative Arab Gulf. The British Embassy also raised a Pride flag last year.

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The union organizing Starbucks workers alleges that the coffee chain is threatening to take away gender-affirming health care coverage for transgender employees.
Starbucks denied the union’s claim.
More than 100 of the coffee chain’s 9,000 U.S. cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United in the last seven months.

A protester waves a sign near the Country Club Plaza Starbucks store where dozens of Starbucks employees and union supporters protested alleged anti-union tactics by the company Thursday, March 3, 2022.
Jill Toyoshiba | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Starbucks is telling its baristas that unionizing could jeopardize the gender-affirming health care coverage for transgender employees that the company offers, according to a complaint filed with the federal labor board.
The complaint comes after more than 100 of the coffee chain’s 9,000 U.S. cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United in the last seven months. Under interim CEO Howard Schultz, Starbucks has been trying to counter the union push by emphasizing the potential shortcomings of collective bargaining, such as federal labor laws that prohibit the company from unilaterally hiking wages across unionized cafes without contract negotiations.

The union’s latest complaint against Starbucks, first reported by Bloomberg, was filed Monday. A transgender employee at an Oklahoma City location told the publication that she believed her manager used a “veiled threat” in a conversation. The manager reportedly told the employee that her benefits could improve, stay the same or worsen if the store unionized and referred specifically to her use of the trans health-care benefits.
Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told CNBC that the claim is false.
The company’s health insurance has covered gender reassignment surgery since 2012 and a wider array of gender-affirming procedures, such as hair transplants or breast reduction, since 2018. Last month, the coffee chain announced it would cover travel expenses for gender-affirming surgeries as state lawmakers target transgender rights.
As of mid-March, more than 150 anti-trans bills had been introduced in state legislatures seeking to limit access to health care, sports, bathrooms and education, according to NBC News. Oklahoma, for example, has passed three anti-trans laws this year.
Starbucks often touts its long history of supporting LGBTQ+ workers and the broader community, particularly during Pride Month in June. The company notes its decades-old policies including health care coverage for same-sex domestic partnerships and employees with terminal illnesses, which was inspired by a Starbucks worker who died of complications from AIDs.

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Ford is instructing dealers to temporarily stop selling electric Mustang Mach-E crossovers due to a potential safety defect that could cause the vehicles to become immobile.
The issue can lead to a malfunction that could cause the vehicle not to start or immediately lose propulsion power while in motion, a dealer notice states.
The problem is notable, as automakers continue to have problems launching new electric vehicles. Ford, in recent years, also has experienced problematic vehicle launches.

People visit Ford’s all-electric SUV Mustang Mach-E at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, the United States, Nov. 22, 2019.
Xinhua via Getty Images

DETROIT – Ford Motor is instructing dealers to temporarily stop selling electric Mustang Mach-E crossovers due to a potential safety defect that could cause the vehicles to become immobile.
Ford, in a notice Monday to its dealers, said potentially affected vehicles include 2021 and 2022 Mach-Es that were built from May 27, 2020, through May 24, 2022, at the automaker’s Cuautitlan plant in Mexico.

Nearly 49,000 of the roughly 100,000 Mach-Es produced during that time frame will be part of a recall, Ford spokesman Said Deep told CNBC.
The problem involves a potential overheating of the vehicle’s high voltage battery main contactors, which is an electrically controlled switch for a power circuit. The issue can lead to a malfunction that could cause the vehicle not to start or immediately lose propulsion power while in motion, the notice states.
The recall is notable, as automakers continue to have problems launching new electric vehicles. Ford, in recent years, also has experienced problematic vehicle launches, leading to high recall and warranty costs.

Ford has issued a handful of recalls regarding the Mach-E since its launch, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website. They’ve ranged from a software error causing unintended acceleration in less than 500 vehicles earlier this year to problems with loose subframe bolts and inadequate bonding for thousands of the vehicle’s glass panel roofs.
Deep said Ford has submitted a recall petition to NHTSA, which handles such matters. The federal vehicle safety watchdog did not immediately respond regarding confirmation of the filing.

Ford expects to offer a solution for the problem in the third quarter, according to the bulletin. Mustang Mach-E owners will be notified via mail after repair instructions and parts ordering information have been provided to dealers.
Deep said the company’s remedy will include a software update to the vehicle’s “Secondary On-Board Diagnostic Control Module and Battery Energy Control Module.” It will be conducted remotely, or over-the-air. Customers also have the option of taking their vehicle to a Ford dealer.

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In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Compass announced a 10% cut to its workforce, and Redfin announced an 8% cut.
Mortgage rates have taken off since the start of this year, rising from 3.29% in early January to 6.28% now, according to Mortgage News Daily.
Home sales have been dropping for several straight months, and the fall is expected to worsen.

Real estate firms Redfin and Compass are laying off workers, as mortgage rates rise sharply and home sales drop.
In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Compass announced a 10% cut to its workforce, and Redfin announced an 8% cut.

Shares of both companies fell Tuesday. Redfin’s stock touched a new 52-week low.
Rising rates and overheated home prices, which are now up over 20% from a year ago according to various surveys, have crushed affordability. Home sales have been dropping for several straight months, and the fall is expected to worsen.

A Redfin Corp. ‘For Sale’ sign stands outside of a home in Seattle, Washington.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Mortgage demand has fallen to its lowest level in over two decades. Rates have taken off since the start of this year, rising from 3.29% in early January to 6.28% now, according to Mortgage News Daily. Rates shot up more than half a percentage point in just the past three days, as concerns over inflation hit the bond market.
“Due to the clear signals of slowing economic growth we’ve taken a number of measures to safeguard our business and reduce costs, including pausing expansion efforts and the difficult decision to reduce the size of our employee team by approximately 10%,” a Compass spokesperson said.
The Redfin filing had an attachment from CEO Glenn Kelman, who writes a regular blog on the company’s website. In the blog posted Tuesday, Kelman wrote, “With May demand 17% below expectations, we don’t have enough work for our agents and support staff, and fewer sales leaves us with less money for headquarters projects.”
Kelman went on to say that with mortgage rates increasing faster than at any point in history, “We could be facing years, not months, of fewer home sales, and Redfin still plans to thrive. If falling from $97 per share to $8 doesn’t put a company through heck, I don’t know what does.”

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Elon Musk said the company will have a Starship prototype rocket “ready to fly” by July, with his space venture aiming to reach orbit with the vehicle for the first time.
The FAA made a crucial environmental decision on Monday that concluded a long-awaited assessment of the Starship program.
The company is developing its nearly 400-foot-tall, reusable Starship rocket with the goal of carrying cargo and people beyond Earth.

Starship prototypes are pictured at the SpaceX South Texas launch site in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. 
Veronica Cardenas | Reuters

SpaceX is closing in on the next major milestone in its Starship rocket development, as the company works to complete environmental impact requirements outlined this week by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Elon Musk on Tuesday said the company will have a Starship prototype rocket “ready to fly” by July, with his space venture aiming to reach orbit with the vehicle for the first time.

SpaceX had hoped to conduct the Starship orbital flight test as early as last summer, but delays in development progress and regulatory approval steadily pushed back that timeline. The FAA made a crucial environmental decision Monday that concluded a long-awaited assessment of the program. SpaceX needs to fulfill more than 75 of the agency’s actions before applying for the launch license required for the flight test.
Musk said in a series of tweets that he spent time at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Monday evening “reviewing progress” on the rocket. He added that the company “will have a second Starship stack ready to fly in August” and aims to conduct flights “monthly thereafter.”
The company is developing its nearly 400-foot-tall, reusable Starship rocket with the goal of carrying cargo and people beyond Earth. The rocket and its Super Heavy booster are powered by SpaceX’s Raptor series of engines. SpaceX has completed multiple high-altitude flight tests with Starship prototypes, but it has yet to reach space.

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Domestic airline bookings slipped 2.3% in May from April, the second consecutive month-over-month drop, according to Adobe data.
Airfares were up 30% last month compared with 2019 levels as travel costs continue to rise.

Travelers walk through Terminal A at Orlando International Airport on Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25, 2021.
Stephen M. Dowell | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Images

U.S. airline bookings slipped 2.3% in May from a month earlier, the second consecutive monthly drop this year, while fares soared over 2019 levels, according to an Adobe report published Tuesday.
Customers spent $8.3 billion on domestic tickets last month, up 6.2% from April.

So far this year, consumers spent more than $37 billion for domestic flights, almost double what they spent in the first five months of last year, when Covid-19 vaccines were just becoming widely available.
“While some consumers have been able to stomach the higher fares, especially for those who delayed travel plans during the pandemic, the dip in bookings shows that some are rethinking their appetite for getting on a plane,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, wrote in the report.
Airfare has surged thanks to high fuel prices, labor shortages and searing travel demand after two years of pandemic, marking one of the most dramatic examples of rising inflation this year.
Bookings have been mostly resilient, though it’s unclear whether demand will last beyond the peak spring and summer travel season, when airlines make the bulk of their annual revenue.
“We have yet to see any cracks in airline bookings, and investors remain concerned about a potential slowdown post peak summer travel,” Andrew Didora, airline analyst at Bank of America wrote in a note on Monday.

Airlines cheered the Biden administration’s decision last week to lift a Covid-19 testing requirement for inbound international travelers. Didora said the shift could further fuel international bookings.
United Airlines on Monday said that searches for international trips rose 7% in the 72 hours since the White House announced it would scrap the international testing requirements, noting the “majority of searches by U.S. travelers were for near-term travel this summer to destinations in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.”

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