Jason Rantz: Buttigieg panics about 'racist highways' while US air industry is 'crumbling'
Tens of thousands of flights are being canceled for the rest of this year, radio host says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has said and done very little to alleviate a growing crisis in nationwide air travel, while instead focusing on such apparent crises as "racist" interstates, Seattle radio how Jason Rantz said Monday.
Rantz told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" the airline industry is "crumbling" under the pressures of a federal vaccine mandate, which he said accentuates an industry-wide staffing shortage. The most alarming piece of the shortage is that pilots are expected to be in short supply in a matter of years, which could ground flights to a halt in many places, Rantz said.
"The airline industry is crumbling and Pete Buttigieg is lecturing us about racist highways," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GINGRICH ON LIBERALS MISJUDGMENT OF PUTIN: THEY THOUGHT THE LION KING WAS A DOCUMENTARY
USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
"[That] kind of makes sense if you're a Green New Deal Evangelist who doesn't actually want us flying much, which is exactly what he's getting."
"Tens of thousands of flights are being canceled. Thousands a week are being delayed, making travel extremely difficult, especially in some of the smaller cities that you would think people to judge might pay attention to."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last year, Buttigieg said that some parts of the Eisenhower Interstate System are inherently racist, describing at one point a low bridge on a parkway that prevented minority children from accessing a beach more directly.
On Fox News, Rantz described some cities already feeling the pinch of reduced or in some cases entirely eliminated flight connections. He added that many airlines have downplayed the staffing shortages but that the statistics bear out otherwise.
President Joe Biden announces his Budget for Fiscal Year 2023. (Photo by Oliver Contreras/Pool/Sipa USA)
"Liberal reporters frankly supported the mandate, so they never did much digging. But as of January, there were 31,000 fewer full-time airline workers than before COVID. And while we were told pretty much everyone was complying, it turns out a lot of people were also quitting or retiring early," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's gotten so bad that JetBlue is basically begging flight attendants to take on some open shifts. Alaska Airlines is paying double to take on extra work, but it was the number of retiring pilots that is the most alarming. Obviously, no pilots means no flights."
"Alaska cut flights from Portland to Denver. United cut from Dulles to pretty much a bunch of destinations… They're looking to cut federally subsidized routes that connect small cities to larger hubs so folks can actually get places."
The smaller puddle-jumpers, he said, are subsidized by Buttigieg's department because they are either not profitable or don't consist of a reliable customer base.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}John Foster Dulles International Airport (iStock)
He cited cities like Pueblo, Colo., and Mason City, Iowa.
"Airlines right now are desperate for pilots … This is expensive and it's happening at a time when we're seeing a price surge for gas," Rantz added.