AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Millions of Americans are traveling to visit family and friends during this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 70 million people are expected to drive more than 50 miles from home, according to AAA. This week is also a big test for the U.S. aviation system. And it comes not long after the government shutdown, which caused delays and disruptions at airports across the country. And NPR's Joel Rose is among those traveling today, and he joins us now from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to tell us how it is going. Hi, Joel.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: So how is it going over there?
ROSE: Well, for a short time this afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily stopped planes from landing at DCA because of aircraft responding to the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington. But operations are getting back to normal. For most of the day, things have been going remarkably well here. I've been talking to travelers flying in from a lot of different airports, Miami, Cincinnati, Manchester, New Hampshire, Savannah, Georgia. Let's hear from a few of them.
PATRICE LOMBARDO: I'm so surprised how well it's going. Amazing.
DAVID LOMBARDO: We had, like, a 15-minute delay.
P LOMBARDO: Yeah, very little delay, and my bag was right there.
D LOMBARDO: We were prepared to be unhappy, and we're not.
TAMMY LEW: Once we got to the airport, it wasn't crowded at all. So I feel like that set the tone, at least in my mind.
PAUL BERKLEY: Super easy. The airport was practically empty this morning, so it was surprising - not what I expected for Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.
ROSE: That was Patrice and David Lombardo from Hilton Head, South Carolina, Tammy Lew, who was flying in from Manchester, New Hampshire, and Paul Berkley coming from south Florida. I should say it is not going this well everywhere. A big winter storm in the Great Lakes is causing some problems in the Twin Cities and in Chicago. That is one of the big trouble spots out there today.
CHANG: OK. Well, it feels like every year the U.S. sets some new record for Thanksgiving travelers. What about this year?
ROSE: The Federal Aviation Administration says it could be the busiest Thanksgiving in 15 years, with a peak of more than 52,000 scheduled flights yesterday alone. Airlines for America, an industry trade group, says airlines will carry more than 31 million passengers during the Thanksgiving travel season. There are indications, though, that advanced bookings this year are down a bit compared to last year, off by about 4% according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, which suggests that maybe demand is not quite where the airlines expected it would be coming out of the shutdown. Perhaps some travelers might've made other plans because of flight disruptions during the shutdown. But in any case, expect airports to be very busy if you are traveling this week.
CHANG: Of course. OK. Well, the big question, you know, that's on everybody's minds is, is the aviation system ready for this big holiday surge?
ROSE: The FAA says yes. The agency says air traffic controller staffing is back to normal levels now that the government is open and those controllers are getting paid. Controllers were required to work without pay, of course, during the shutdown. Some took on second jobs, and many called out sick. That led to staffing shortages at many FAA facilities. And for a while, the FAA ordered flight reductions at dozens of major airports, which it said were necessary to keep the airspace safe. Those limits are now lifted, and airlines say they're back to their full schedules.
CHANG: Well, about those air traffic controllers, Joel, how do you think their morale is right now just coming out of the government shutdown?
ROSE: You know, it's hard to say. The Department of Transportation has said it will give $10,000 bonuses to air traffic controllers who did not miss a single shift during the 43-day shutdown, as originally suggested by President Trump. But only a small fraction of working air traffic controllers will qualify. Just 311 controllers out of more than 10,000 will get the cash bonuses, according to the controllers' union. And that is causing some resentment among controllers who did not qualify. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, though, is defending the bonuses. He says they're intended to reward people who had perfect attendance during the shutdown. And he notes that all controllers are getting paid for all their scheduled shifts during the shutdown, even those that they did not work.
CHANG: That is NPR's Joel Rose reporting from DCA airport and one of the millions of people flying today. Good luck to you, Joel.
ROSE: Thanks, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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