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It's been a chaotic summer for air travel.
對于航空旅行來說，這是一個混亂的夏天。
Airlines have delayed and canceled tens of thousands of flights in recent weeks, even during this July 4th weekend.
最近幾周，航空公司已經延誤、取消了數萬個航班，甚至在7月4日的這個周末也是如此。
NPR's transportation correspondent, David Schaper, joins us now.
NPR新聞的交通記者大衛·沙珀將和我們連線。
David, so first of all, tell us how busy the skies are right now.
大衛，首先，和我們說說航班現在有多緊張。
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復到疫情爆發前的水平？
Well, not quite, but it is getting pretty close. The skies have been very busy this summer.
嗯，不完全是，但已經很接近了。今年航班一直很緊張。
And over the last week or so, the number of people flying has been getting to near 95% of prepandemic levels.
在過去一周左右的時間里，乘坐飛機的人數已經接近疫情前水平的95%。
Joe Schwieterman is an airline industry expert at Chicago's DePaul University.
喬·施維特曼是芝加哥德保羅大學的航空領域業專家。
He's been tracking the number of people flying relative to the number of available seats.
他一直在追蹤乘坐飛機的人數與可用座位數量的關系。
And he says the big problem right now is that airlines have far fewer flights than they did before the pandemic.
他表示，目前最大的問題是，航空公司的航班數量遠遠少于疫情爆發前的水平。
So nearly every flight right now is completely full.
所以現在幾乎所有的航班都滿員了。
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.
當航空公司準備起飛一架250人的飛機，然后又取消了航班，會發現，在一個沒有真正人流低谷的周末為這些人尋找備用座位或空座位，讓航空公司陷入了非常艱難的境地。
Because the airlines will have a tough time rebooking passengers because they have so few seats available.
因為航空公司將很難重新為乘客預定座位，因為他們幾乎沒有空座了。
So why are the airlines canceling so many flights?
那么，為什么航空公司要取消這么多航班呢？
I mean, were they unprepared for this?
我是說，他們是不是對此毫無準備？
How would they not know that after two years that we wouldn't want to go out in the world again and fly?
他們怎么會不知道，兩年后，我們不想再往世界各地飛了呢？
I mean, we've heard about staffing shortages, especially among pilots, and weather. I mean, is that it?
我的意思是，我們聽說了人員短缺的問題，特別是飛行員短缺的問題，以及天氣的問題。我是說，是這樣嗎？
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，航空公司正在為乘坐飛機的人數再次激增做準備，但他們的野心太大了，他們在夏季日程中增加了更多的航班，超過了他們的人手，因為飛行員和其他所有類型的員工，從機械師到空乘人員都短缺。
And they've since cut a lot of flights from their schedules, but they're still stretched very thin.
自那以后，他們從日程表中削減了許多航班，但航班仍然非常緊張。
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.
飛行員表示，他們的加班時間達到了創紀錄的水平，但業內專家表示，當出現惡劣天氣等情況時，航空公司仍然沒有多少回旋余地。
Bill McGee is an aviation consumer advocate who used to work in airline operations.
比爾·麥基是一名航空消費者權益倡導者，曾在航空公司運營部門工作。
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.
我不是在夸大其詞，但我可以告訴你，大衛，這是我在這個行業37年來見過的最糟糕的情況。
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.
麥基表示，航空公司知道他們無法運營所有預定的航班，但他們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.
衡量情況有多糟糕的一個指標是，今年到目前為止，乘客向交通部投訴航空公司的數量比2019年猛漲了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.
這聽起來好像很多?，F在，你說人員短缺只是導致大量航班延誤和取消的問題的一部分。
What else is going wrong?
還有什么地方出了問題？
Well, you know, the airlines are also short on planes.
嗯，你知道，航空公司也缺飛機。
They haven't returned to service all of those that they parked during the pandemic.
他們還沒有恢復使用疫情期間停飛的所有飛機。
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.
他們將許多航班取消和延誤歸咎于空中交通管制問題。
They say one key air traffic control center in Jacksonville, Fla., was understaffed recently for 27 of 30 days.
他們表示，佛羅里達州杰克遜維爾的一個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.
其他中心也出現了人手短缺的情況。
The FAA acknowledges some staffing shortfalls and say they're being addressed.
美國聯邦航空局承認存在一些人員短缺問題，并表示正在解決這些問題。
But the agency fired back at the airlines, criticizing them for misusing government aid that was intended to prevent short staffing at the airlines.
但該機構對這些航空公司進行了回擊，批評航空公司濫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.
一位發言人說：“當人們購買機票時，他們希望能到達他們想去的地方。
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540億美元的疫情救濟資金(這些救濟資金是為了幫助航空公司免于大規模裁員和破產)后，美國人民的期望應該得到滿足。
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