pete muntean, thank you so much. >> wait until the end of the show.ikes to say, stay late on your vacation. don't try to come back right after monday. stay until wednesday or thursday. just in, ohio's republican governor vetoed a state bill that would have banned gender affirming care for minors. it would have prohibited transgender athletes from participating in girls and women's sports. he said sign ing the bill would have been saying the state is and government know better than parents what is medically best for their children. >>> the final trading day of the year on wall street. a live look at the dow. rare negative numbers from the dow on the last day of the year. down 120 points right now. dow hit a record yesterday in 2023. it's just seen huge gains. the dow up nearly 25%. the s&p at 14%. and the nats dak, 44% for the year. detroit pistons just made nba history in the wrong ways. they lost their 28th consecutive game. a tough overtime battle with the celtics. the pistons blew it. they are now tied with the the 6ers for the longest ever ruse lo

let's bring in cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean. , the stigma surrounding mental health conditions and pilots has dogged the faa for sometime. why is it that they are addressing this now? >> never before has this stigma been talked about so openly, what is interesting here is the head of the ntsb tells me, it is the faa that created this stigma. here is the problem. pilots must report any mental health issue to the faa, but then they risk losing their medical certification, ability to fly, livelihood. the reality is that so many pilots lie to the faa, so that they can fly. and if they are caught, they face very severe penalties. you see the bind there. the faa just announced it is convening a special rulemaking committee to take another look at its policies. here's where the faa says about its mission. provide recommendations to the faa, on ways to identify and break down any remaining barriers that discourage pilots from reporting and seeking care for mental health issues. the spark that lit the fire under the faa happened on octobe

pete muntean live from reagan national outside the nation's capitol. good morning, pete. how's it look? >> reporter: smooth, poppy. this is the standard security line at terminal 2. only seven to ten minutes to get through the line right now. i want you to look at the line earlier. the rush was huge here at 7:00 a.m. the tsa says yesterday was actually bigger than initially forecast. they thought 2.5 million people would pass through security at america's airports. it was 2.64 million people and today will be even bigger. we are talking about 2.7 million people at airports nationwide today. 44,000 flights. the good news is that things are mostly okay at airports across the country. only about 50 cancellations. 500 delays. the faa is warning of some ground stops today in l.a. and phoenix because of that weather you mentioned. also some delays in places like texas and minneapolis because of low cloud ceilings. but the big days are ahead and there is some concern about whether over the weekend and into next week, and that does have transportation secretary pete buttigieg a b

numbers, the transportation secretary is warning that severe weather could cause major delays, and pete munteanreagan national airport and why can't we have a normal holiday travel without weather being a concern? >> that would be. >> and pete, what are things looking like this morning and what are things looking out for this morn iing? >> yes, because in boston, the wind is low, but only about 50 cancellations and 40 delays, but today, it is the official start of the holiday rush according to the tsa and anticipated 2.5 million people, but they updated it to 2.65 people today and 2.69 people tomorrow. and think about a year ago today, it was the official start of the southwest airlines official 10-day melt down with 70,000 flights canceled and over 2 million people stranded. the good news is that the airlines have done better this year especially looking at thanksgiving, and 1.2% of all flights canceled this year, and about 20% of all flights delayed though, and average of 52 minutes, and i asked secretary of transportation pete buttigieg about that and he said there has to be work on the dela

pete muntean, cnn, washington. >> pete, thank you. and joseph emerson has pleaded not guilty to 83 counts of reckless endangerment. >>> america's gave delivers an instant classic. the army-navy game came down to the final seconds. which team came away with a win. >>> the 124th edition of america's game was fln all time classic. the army-navy football game going down to the wire. >> army's defense held the line. coy wire was there. >> what is up. welcome to gillette stadium, home of the six time super bowl champion new england patriots. this army navy gave was historic with the 124th iteration in new england for the first time ever, the birthplace of the u.s. army and navy. dating back to 1890, this is patriotic and loaded are pageantry and pomp and circumstance. coming into this one, army was ranging third best defense in the nation at forcing turnovers and they got two more. max and mosson for an interception and fortner scooping a fumble into the end zone for the army touchdown. but this defensive slugfest took a goal line stand to

pete muntean, thank you so much for the pass on this and the reporting now. john?yes, a clear path to dictatorship in the united states, and the new alarm bells of what a second trump presidency could mean for the country, and the new trump response is basically, i know you are, but what am i. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. >>> an unimaginable threat and a clear path to dictatorship and

the big pete muntean tip, try not to check a bag. we saw it last year when people put significant things in their bag and weren't able to get them. >>> this morning cnn is getting a look at iceland's volcanic eruption from above. frederik pleitgen just took a ride over the fissure and said he could feel the power. >> reporter: this is an amazing thing to be witnessing. here you can see how active the volcanic activity is. you can see the lava, feel the power that our planet is unleashing. >> the eruption does appear to be dying down a bit after two days of shooting lava several feet into the air. frederik pleitgen back on the ground now. this is quite an aerial view and it was hitting all the senses up there. what more did you see? >> reporter: yeah, it certainly was. i can tell you it blew me away the fact that you could smell the mag na, the sulfur as you were flying over the volcanic eruption. in the early stages we saw the massive fountains the mall of magma spewing along there. it has subsided a great deal but the lava is still

cnn's pete muntean has more on this, and now, pete, what is the message that the department of transportation is trying to send here with this huge number? >> the message is that airlines have to stay on their game, especially as we go into this huge holiday travel rush. we will break down this $140 million fine levied by the department of transportation on southwest airlines, and $90 million will go into a fund to protect future southwest airline passenger and if they arrive more than three hours later, they will have a $75 voucher from the fund, and $1 million goes to the federal government. now, stepping back, to a year ago, december 21, 2022, when southwest started this period of people being stranded. the d.o.t. said it is because of massive incursions on the consumers' protections and not keeping them inform and not giving them proper customer service, and not giving the money back quickly enough though they did reimburse people to the tune of 2$2.6 billion. and now, this is what secretary of transportation said pete buttigieg. >> it is about the entire airline industry understanding th

we have pete muntean there in washington, and this fine is huge. what is southwest saying about that? >> southwest is trying to spin this as a win for consumers, kate, and this is why. of the $140 million of this fine, $90 million sets up a fund for passengers in the future who face cancellations and delays controllable by southwest. if they arrive at their destination more than three hours late, they get a $75 voucher. most of that fine is going to government. remember, we are on the one-year anniversary of when this 10-day-long crisis kicked off with the snowstorm in some of the major hubs that led to the behind the scenes scheduling system, and 2 million passengers were left in the lurch. this is what the department of transportation says it levied the fine for -- e repeated and inadequate help for customers. they did not come to the help or quickly respond to passengers who needed refunds. southwest did give $600 million in refunds and returns for passengers after the crisis at the airlines. pete butte judge says it is send sending a message th

. >> let's bring in pete muntean. pete, it sounds like they had quite the ordeal. what are you learning? >> reporter: the airport there in goose bay, labrador is called happy valley. >> [laughter] >> reporter: there might be a joke and that because it was a bit of a nightmare scenario for folks on this delta flight. it was an airbus going from amsterdam to detroit. pretty quickly from -- after getting covid north atlantic, you can see they had a bit of an issue there over labrador. they had to turn back for the goose bay airport. the faa says it was an issue with the deicing equipment, something you don't want to mess with this time of year especially. so they landed there in goose bay. they got off the plane. for about 24 hours the passengers were stuck there and there's not a lot of hotels in goose bay. i looked it up online a little bit ago. there's a military barracks there, it's an air force base there for the canadian air force, the royal canadian air force. they ended up going to a barracks there to spend a night. i did read a quote from one of the passenger

. >> cnn aviation correspondent, pete muntean, with us here. pete, what is the faa planning on doing here? >> i just spoke with the faa about a scoop by broke last night. it's significant because air traffic controller fatigue came up in the investigation of one of these closest near collision. what the faa administrator is doing is bringing to you that they're a three member panel to report and the safety rest of air traffic control is being fatigued. that workforce, understaffed by about 3000 controllers. as a result controllers are often working mandatory overtime. here is where that becomes a problem. back in february, a fedex fly landing in austin came within 100 feet of hitting a departing southwest airlines flight. that incident took place in dense fog before dawn. the air traffic controller in the tower told investigators he had been working a six-day week of ten hour shifts. faa administrator mike whitaker told the faa exclusively, this is a tough lifestyle. the panel intends to identify risks of the job. >> coming into this job you nee

pete muntean is on this, full disclosure, i was part of that meltdown. it was experiential journalism. i saw it from the inside, two out of the three here, you too. the d.o.t. citing southwest for numerous violations of consumer protection laws, what is southwest saying? >> southwest is really trying to spin this as a win for customers because in that $140 million fine, 90 million is going to a fund that will pay customers who are late three hours or more for their flight with $70 vouchers. $35 million, $140 million fine will go directly to the federal government. let's look back a year ago exactly today, december 1st, 2022. that's what office southwest scheduling crisis that started with the southwest major hubs in chicago midway, in and then caused a behind-the-scenes meltdown of southwest airlines scheduling system. we are talking 16,000 900 flights canceled. 200 million people stranded, i just spoke to the secretary. it's all because southwest did not properly communicate or give the best customer service, they did not give refunds quick enough even

. >>> let's get to cnn's pete muntean tracking this from reagan national airport outside of d.c. , what are you seeing in terms of the ripple effects of all of this? >> reporter: there's always a cascading effect here, kate. the good news, here at reagan national airport, most of the weather has moved out. it's gray and windy. winds up to 50 miles an hour at peak gusts. we're see according to the faa ground stops and ground delays going in. the faa put a ground stop for flights into boston logan and also flights there delayed on the ground due to heavy wind. the big story here is the fact that this is mostly rain. this is not a snow event. so, we could be seeing a very different story right now. the number of cancellations and delays remaining relatively low. here are the latest from flight ware, about 188 cancellations, about 100 delays. let's put this in perspective for the weekend, 10,000 delays but only 200 cancellations, airlines really repeating a story that we saw over thanksgiving when they were hit by big rain and there were a lot of delays but not any cancellations. the

pete muntean is live where he probably has a whole pad to live in at reagan international airport. d pete, what are you looking at right now, and how do the airports prepare, because there are staffing issues an top of all of us trying to go to the airport to go somewhere to see the family? >> well, it was a tough lesson for everyone to learn especially southwest after the 10-day meltdown that started pretty much a year ago today. 16,900 flights cancel and 2 million passengers left in the lurch. southwest says it has turned the page, and more deicing available, and war games behind the scenes have been done, and so far, things are smooth. at reagan international airport, the security line has taken people less than five minutes to get through. the number yesterday was anticipated 2.5 million at airports across the country according to the tsa but we exceeded it to 2.64 million people screened nationwide and today, it is bigger and closer to 2.7 million and 44,000 flights, and there is a little bit of a warning here from the faa that we could see ground stops as the day develops, bec

let's get back to reagan national airport and we find pete muntean.hat are your constituents telling you today? >> reporter: we just have seen a few ground stops and departure delays go into play. it's not as smooth as we hoped. delays in seattle and miami, a ground stop in place for flights going to san francisco. the good news is the cancellations are relatively low. only in the double digits. about 40 nationwide. we have seen the delays go up to 1,who 0 nationwide. today is going to be even bigger than yesterday. yesterday it was forecasted to be 2.5 million people at airports nationwide. it was closer to 2.64 million people. today that's going to be closer to 2.7 the million million people, 44,000 flights. remember the mayhem of last year still on the minds of a lot of folks. so you may want to consider driving. 111 million people planning to travel 50 miles or more. 103 million of them driving. so you may want to play with the days a little bit. because the holiday falls on a monday. new yeerar's falls on a monday. so the message from aaa is that

derek van dam is monitoring the forecast, the solstice, what it means and pete muntean is at reagan national airport. tell us what you ''reing what t tsa is expecting. >> reporter: what you're looking at here at reagan national airport is the start of the 7:00 a.m. rush on what's to be the biggest day before the holiday. they're expecting 2.5 million people at airports across the country today. 49,000 flights will carry all of those people according to the faa. but the big question is whether or not airlines can keep it together after a really bad stretch over a year ago. in fact, a year ago today is when the ten day long southwest airlines meltdown kicked off, 16,000 flights canceled. 2 million people stranded. so far this year, things have gotten a lot better. the cancellation rate only about 1.3% according to flight aware. but 20% of all flights delayed, an average of 52 minutes. and i asked pete buttigieg about that. he said that number is concerning and it needs to come down. listen. >> now so far this year on the cancellation front we're 1.2%. below 2 is what i would consider healthy.

aviation correspondent and essentially the mayor of reagan national pete muntean.u seeing so far? what should people be looking out for? >> people are going pretty good. only five minutes to the get through security here at reagan national. cancellations and delays are low. only in double digits, 60 according to nationwide. the faa implemented a program for flights leaving miami due to the shear volume of flights leaving there. the tsa says today will be biggest day for air travel leading up to the holiday. 2.5 million people will fly. it's revised its projection to 2.65 million people is the new number. on eunited airlines alone, they are expecting 9 million people over the next few days. 4,000 flights her day. it's an increase compared to last year. and we went behind the scenes at united in newark to see how things are going there. they insist they have the people power. they have the deicing trucks. they are redty for whatever mother nature throws its way. but the good news right now is that the weather is not really throw much of a wrench into air travel. make

pete pete muntean is following this story fors. this is an ominous and scary story to read. >> the faa is trying to debunk the story, and saying it's not reflective of the high standard of safety in the national airspace system. the bottom line is something we have been reporting for months, the air traffic control system is stretched to the limit, controllers say they are over worked and under staffed and it was highlighted just again last week in a massive release of data from the national transportation safety board about a close call in austin in february. the air traffic controller in that case said he was working an overtime shift on a six-day week. in that incident, a landing fedex flight departing southwest flight came within about 100 feet of colliding on the runway. it was the pilots of the fedex flight that saved the day. the air traffic control staffing system is a huge issue that the faa is scrambling to fix. the department of transportation says that it is 3,000 workers short, and when you factor in retirements and at

pete muntean is joining us live from outside reagan national airport outside washington. pete, how are things looking so far with people on their way to the airport? >> reporter: it's been pretty smooth today. it's a down year the a reagan national airport. the cancellations and delays have remained at bay. this will be a huge weekend for air travel. look at the line at reagan national airport. a lot of people coming home after the end of the christmas holiday meeting those leaving town for new year's and the tsa says it's already screened 20 million people since the start of the rush. after this weekend, they will add another 7 million people to the total. 2.6 million people expected at airports across the country today alone. 43,000 flights handled by the faa. the good news here is that airlines have performed admirably over this rush. 187,000 flights scheduled the first week of the rush according to flightaware. 36,000 delayed, one in every five flights, although only 1,300 canceled. we are talking less than 1% of all flights. think back to a year ago. southwest airline

pete muntean live at reagan national with more. not the best day for flying. >> not the best day, poppy. you know, it's still pretty gray here at ray gaap national airport. the weather has moved off, at least for now. the concern, though, according to the faa, is about ground stops and ground delays as the day goes on. we're talking about places here at reagan national, philadelphia, boston, the new york major airports. so this could have a pretty big impact on what could be a pretty big start to a big holiday travel season. just check flight aware. the numbers still relatively low. we've seen about 379 cancellations so far today. about 600 flight delays. although the day still pretty young, the good news here is that over the last few days, as this weather hit other parts of the country, there weren't all that many cancellations, and airlines performed relatively well over the thanksgiving rush, but the proof will be in the pudding here. we just need to see how much airlines can handle, as they go in to this beginning of the holid