LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Now let's get a sense of how airlines are reacting to the new air traffic restrictions with help from Chris Sununu. He's president and CEO of Airlines for America. And that's a trade group that represents passenger and cargo airlines. Sununu is also a former Republican governor of New Hampshire. Good morning, Governor, and thank you for being on the program.
CHRIS SUNUNU: Good morning.
FADEL: So FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said he's not aware of the agency taking measures like this before, at least not in his 35 years in the aviation market. I mean, do you believe these flight cancellations are necessary?
SUNUNU: It's all in the name of safety, so yeah. I think the industry, in working with the FAA, have done a tremendous job. As was just reported, you know, for the first five or six weeks, we had some delays here and there. But everyone was putting in a lot of overtime, making sure that a small delay didn't turn into a cancellation. Customers were being served, ultimately. But what we have seen - I'm looking at a chart as I sit. It's been a long night.
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: A long 48 hours here. Looking at data at my desk right now, really, over the last seven days, the number of both cancellations, staffing callouts, not just in four or five areas but on some days over even this past weekend, a dozen or more areas, it's really growing. So that stress on the system is building. And what the FAA has said to the airlines is, look, we got to make sure that we are not waiting for a real problem to happen. And the airlines absolutely agree with that. Let's find a way to roll in some pullback, if you will, knowing that we got the holidays right around the corner, right?
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: So it's going to be tough. It's nothing that the airlines aren't willing to do, especially given that it's all in the name of safety.
FADEL: So in your view, really a move to keep this system safe. I mean, you're from the world of politics. You and your father were both governors in New Hampshire. And so this critique that this is more about optics and politics than real safety, what do you say to that?
SUNUNU: Oh, no. No, that's nonsense. No, it is all about safety. Trust me, the airlines are at the risk of losing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: They're not doing that just for political moves. They're doing it because they know safety is absolutely paramount. Pressures are absolutely growing. You know, this has been a really great public-private partnership, right? On the public side, you have the air traffic controllers, those TSA agents that keep going to work.
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: Putting in the overtime every single day, not getting paid 14 times, right? Fourteen times folks up on Capitol Hill have said no to paying these individuals. And, God bless them, they keep coming. And so that partnership has worked incredibly well for the first 35-plus days of this unprecedented shutdown. But these stresses are growing. These families are feeling pressure, and it's real. And so, again, it's about being proactive and making sure that the American public knows it is absolutely safe to book a flight. It is absolutely safe.
We slow the system down to ensure that safety - right? - because you don't want to get to a critical point. So everyone is putting in the overtime. It's not going to be easy, but all the airlines are stepping up and doing everything they can to make sure that customers aren't just being hard canceled. They're being moved, their flights, when they can. They're really trying to find as much flexibility.
FADEL: Right. Yeah, how are those decisions being made on where to cut, which flights to cancel?
SUNUNU: Each airline has the discretion to figure that out. So the goal is, we call it taking blips...
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: ...Out of the sky, right? So the air traffic controllers are looking at 10% less of that congestion traffic. And they're giving each airline a lot of flexibility and the discretion to determine, you know, this flight can be moved. There's only a few passengers on this one. We can double them up there. Because every airline runs a little bit differently. So they're giving them the discretion to, again, take that 10% of overall flights down, but allowing themselves the ability to maintain their customers as best as they.
FADEL: As you point out, the holidays are coming, which means a lot of these flights are going to be fully booked. What is the impact that this is going to have on travelers?
SUNUNU: If this goes into Thanksgiving weekend, this could be really, really tough. So I think the measures that are being taken are going to have some real positive effects in keeping everyone safe. As that pressure builds though, we could see more callouts. We could see...
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: ...More issues within the TSA and the air traffic controllers, if those numbers continue to decrease. We watch that data literally hourly. So as that builds, hopefully, we don't have to take additional measures. But here's the answer. There's going to be another vote today, right?
FADEL: Yeah.
SUNUNU: Maybe 15th time is the charm. Maybe they'll finally get their act together on Capitol Hill, say yes, open the government on this continuing resolution. And really, it has nothing to do with the airline industry, right? This is the American public and the airline industry really being held hostage on silly politics on Capitol Hill. So the message is, please, do your job. Open things back up. And they can take care of the health care and all those other really important things in parallel, but you can't hold the whole system hostage over politics.
FADEL: And just a reminder, this is a record-breaking government shutdown. Chris Sununu is president and CEO of Airlines for America and the former governor of New Hampshire. Thank you for your time.
SUNUNU: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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