Air travel quandary: Gad Allon and Megan Ryerson on challenges and solutions
The recent government shutdown exposed long-standing issues facing commercial air travel. Leading into Thanksgiving holiday travel, Gad Allon of the Wharton School and Megan Ryerson of the Weitzman School of Design discuss the system’s infrastructure challenges and the need for workforce development.
4 min. read
Travelers at a security checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago during the government shutdown in November.
(Image: Nam Y. Huh via Getty Images)
Mention the words “air travel” and many people groan at the thought of standing in long security lines and being crammed into tiny seats, and yet about 1.1 billion people flew in 2024. Air traffic controllers handle more than 44,000 flights per day across the U.S., with Thanksgiving being one of the busiest travel periods.
The recent federal government shutdown brought long-standing concerns about air travel to the public eye, including shortages of air traffic controllers and security screeners. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has also reported staffing shortages, leading to long lines, and the idea of privatization being floated.
In short, travelers should expect more delays, cancellations, and less slack in the system, says Allon: “The U.S. already runs a ‘hot’ aviation network with little buffer. When even small disruptions occur, congestion amplifies rapidly.”
Air traffic controllers work in a highly stressful and demanding field and TSA screeners are also under pressure. What can be done to improve work environments and reduce staffing shortfalls?
Megan Ryerson: It’s challenging to become an air traffic controller and to stay an air traffic controller. The training is rigorous and involves demanding cognitive tests and scenario testing. Because of the challenging training and possible burn out, the pipeline must be very large to ensure a robust workforce. The industry is also facing a pilot shortage. Between the reduced pipeline of military pilots coming over to commercial, the retirement of baby boomer pilots, the growth of international aviation, and the high cost to train to be a pilot, airlines are scrambling for pilots. Colleges and universities such as Vaughn College and Tuskegee University are doing excellent work preparing the next generation of aviation professionals and working to make that accessible. If we want the aviation industry to thrive, industry needs to continue to step up with flight schools and tuition remission.
Gad Allon: For air traffic controllers, the short-term challenge is operational stamina; in the long run, the solution requires both staffing and systems reform. That means accelerating hiring and training pipelines while also modernizing scheduling tools, automation support, and radar infrastructure. These roles demand precision and sustained focus, and the current system neither compensates nor supports that adequately. The same is true for the TSA. Privatization alone won’t solve throughput or morale problems. What’s needed is process redesign: smarter queue management, differentiated screening based on data and risk, and investment in automation and workforce culture, not just more bodies.
What other solutions could be considered to improve air travel?
Allon: The deeper issue is that the U.S. aviation system was designed for the 1980s but now carries double the volume.
Deferred modernization in both technology (NextGen rollout) and workforce planning has created structural fragility. Fixing it will require consistent investment, not episodic crisis-driven responses, treating aviation as critical infrastructure, not as a commercial convenience. Passengers should be concerned in the sense of expecting continued friction but not unsafe operations. The system remains safe, just increasingly inefficient. The longer modernization lags, however, the more those inefficiencies compound.
(Left) Gad Allon, Jeffrey A. Keswin Professor, professor of operations, information and decisions, and director of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology in the Wharton School, and Megan Ryerson, UPS Foundation Professor of Transportation and chair of city and regional planning at the Weitman School of Design.
Ryerson: Air transportation is part of a broader intercity transportation system that connects the country and the world. And we should plan it that way: as a single, coordinated network. Within the domestic intercity system, we can reduce pressure on airports by replacing short flights with comfortable buses. This is already happening here in our own region, as the bus company Landline has partnered with American Airlines to offer connecting service from Philadelphia International Airport to cities within a three-hour drive. The total travel time is about the same for passengers, and the reduced flight demand helps ease airport congestion and delays across the aviation system. By shifting our thinking from air travel to intercity travel, we can cut delays, improve reliability, and make the entire network more efficient.
What makes commercial airline travel appealing despite the challenges?
Ryerson: When President Truman dedicated Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in the 1940s, he spoke of how aviation connects people across cultures and continents and deepens our understanding of one another. Eighty years later, even with advances in technology, the fact remains: Aviation still connects the world. Transportation, in all its forms, links people to the activities they need and love, such as work, health care, visiting family, relaxing with friends. Aviation does this on a global scale. That's why we keep coming back.
Allon: Air travel remains appealing because it collapses distance in a way no other mode can. It connects opportunity, family, and commerce across vast geographies. The discomforts of flying are largely outweighed by its time-saving and network value: the ability to access an entire global grid within hours.
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