美国航空公司假期仓位爆满
It's been a chaotic summer for air travel.
对于航空旅行来说，这是一个混乱的夏天。
Airlines have delayed and canceled tens of thousands of flights in recent weeks, even during this July 4th weekend.
最近几周，航空公司已经延误、取消了数万个航班，甚至在7月4日的这个周末也是如此。
NPR's transportation correspondent, David Schaper, joins us now.
David, so first of all, tell us how busy the skies are right now.
大卫，首先，和我们说说航班现在有多紧张。
I mean, is air travel demand back to where it was before the pandemic?
我的意思是，航空旅行需求是否恢复到疫情爆发前的水平？
Well, not quite, but it is getting pretty close. The skies have been very busy this summer.
嗯，不完全是，但已经很接近了。今年航班一直很紧张。
And over the last week or so, the number of people flying has been getting to near 95% of prepandemic levels.
在过去一周左右的时间里，乘坐飞机的人数已经接近疫情前水平的95%。
Joe Schwieterman is an airline industry expert at Chicago's DePaul University.
乔·施维特曼是芝加哥德保罗大学的航空领域业专家。
He's been tracking the number of people flying relative to the number of available seats.
他一直在追踪乘坐飞机的人数与可用座位数量的关系。
And he says the big problem right now is that airlines have far fewer flights than they did before the pandemic.
他表示，目前最大的问题是，航空公司的航班数量远远少于疫情爆发前的水平。
So nearly every flight right now is completely full.
所以现在几乎所有的航班都满员了。
When you just take a large plane of 250 people and you cancel that flight and have to find, you know, standby seats or empty seats for those people on a weekend that doesn't really have a low point, it puts the airlines in a really tough spot.
当航空公司准备起飞一架250人的飞机，然后又取消了航班，会发现，在一个没有真正人流低谷的周末为这些人寻找备用座位或空座位，让航空公司陷入了非常艰难的境地。
Because the airlines will have a tough time rebooking passengers because they have so few seats available.
因为航空公司将很难重新为乘客预定座位，因为他们几乎没有空座了。
So why are the airlines canceling so many flights?
那么，为什么航空公司要取消这么多航班呢？
I mean, were they uNPRepared for this?
我是说，他们是不是对此毫无准备？
How would they not know that after two years that we wouldn't want to go out in the world again and fly?
他们怎么会不知道，两年后，我们不想再往世界各地飞了呢？
I mean, we've heard about staffing shortages, especially among pilots, and weather. I mean, is that it?
我的意思是，我们听说了人员短缺的问题，特别是飞行员短缺的问题，以及天气的问题。我是说，是这样吗？
Yeah. You know, the airlines were preparing for a big surge in people flying again, but they were overly ambitious and added more flights to their summer schedules than they could staff because of a shortage of pilots and really every other kind of employee, from mechanics to flight attendants, too.
嗯。你知道，航空公司正在为乘坐飞机的人数再次激增做准备，但他们的野心太大了，他们在夏季日程中增加了更多的航班，超过了他们的人手，因为飞行员和其他所有类型的员工，从机械师到空乘人员都短缺。
And they've since cut a lot of flights from their schedules, but they're still stretched very thin.
自那以后，他们从日程表中削减了许多航班，但航班仍然非常紧张。
Pilots say they're working record amounts of overtime, but industry experts say the airlines still have very little wiggle room to stay on track when things go wrong, like bad weather.
飞行员表示，他们的加班时间达到了创纪录的水平，但业内专家表示，当出现恶劣天气等情况时，航空公司仍然没有多少回旋余地。
Bill McGee is an aviation consumer advocate who used to work in airline operations.
比尔·麦基是一名航空消费者权益倡导者，曾在航空公司运营部门工作。
I'm not speaking hyperbolically, but I can tell you, David, that this is the worst I've ever seen in the 37 years I've been around this industry.
我不是在夸大其词，但我可以告诉你，大卫，这是我在这个行业37年来见过的最糟糕的情况。
McGee says the airlines know that they're not going to be able to operate all the flights that they've scheduled, but they're often not canceling until the very last minute.
麦基表示，航空公司知道他们无法运营所有预定的航班，但他们往往直到最后一刻才取消。
And one measure of just how awful it is - passenger complaints about airlines to the DOT so far this year are up a whopping 300% over 2019.
衡量情况有多糟糕的一个指标是，今年到目前为止，乘客向交通部投诉航空公司的数量比2019年猛涨了300%。
That sounds like a lot. Now, you said staffing shortages are only part of the problem leading to those huge number of flight delays and cancellations.
这听起来好像很多。现在，你说人员短缺只是导致大量航班延误和取消的问题的一部分。
What else is going wrong?
还有什么地方出了问题？
Well, you know, the airlines are also short on planes.
嗯，你知道，航空公司也缺飞机。
They haven't returned to service all of those that they parked during the pandemic.
他们还没有恢复使用疫情期间停飞的所有飞机。
But the airlines point to something else.
但航空公司指出了其他一些事情。
They blame many of the cancellations and delays on air traffic control problems.
他们将许多航班取消和延误归咎于空中交通管制问题。
They say one key air traffic control center in Jacksonville, Fla., was understaffed recently for 27 of 30 days.
他们表示，佛罗里达州杰克逊维尔的一个重要的空中交通管制中心最近30天中有27天人手不足。
And other centers have been short staffed, too.
其他中心也出现了人手短缺的情况。
The FAA acknowledges some staffing shortfalls and say they're being addressed.
美国联邦航空局承认存在一些人员短缺问题，并表示正在解决这些问题。
But the agency fired back at the airlines, criticizing them for misusing government aid that was intended to prevent short staffing at the airlines.
但该机构对这些航空公司进行了回击，批评航空公司滥用旨在防止航空公司人手短缺的政府援助。
A spokesman says, quote, "People expect when they buy an airline ticket that they're going to get where they need to go.
一位发言人说：“当人们购买机票时，他们希望能到达他们想去的地方。
After receiving $54 billion in pandemic relief to help save the airlines from mass layoffs and bankruptcy, the American people deserve to have their expectations met."
在收到了540亿美元的疫情救济资金(这些救济资金是为了帮助航空公司免于大规模裁员和破产)后，美国人民的期望应该得到满足。
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