Nearly 1,000 flights “within, into, and out of the United States” were canceled Friday on the first day of reduced flight operations for airports, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. Later that day, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that more could soon follow.
The uncertainty over when the government shutdown will end has led to unpredictability for air travel, as airports have scaled back flights due to staffing limitations. The Trump administration has argued that these reductions are necessary for safety, but with holiday travel just around the corner, officials and the public are both bracing for the knock-on effects of cancelled flights.
“If this shutdown doesn’t end relatively soon, the consequence of that is going to be more controllers don’t come to work,” Duffy said Friday on Fox News. “And then we’re going to have to continue to assess the pressure in the airspace and make decisions that may, again, move us from 10% to 15%, maybe to 20%. I don’t want to see that.”
On Wednesday, the transportation secretary announced a 10% flight reduction at 40 major airports. Several major airports saw a 4% reduction in their flight operations Friday, with that number expected to gradually increase to 10% next week.
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Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dallas Love Field Airport, Boston Logan International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport are a few of the airports expected to be affected.
Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CNN on Thursday that the shutdown has led to controllers leaving the profession.
“Controllers are resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of the shutdown. We hadn’t seen that before, and we’re also 400 controllers shorter than we were in the 2019 shutdown,” Daniels said.
“But they’re [controllers] calling in saying, ‘I don’t have enough gas to get to work … What do you want me to do,’ Daniels said. “‘I can’t pay for my child care, can I bring my kids to work?’”
Duffy on Friday explained the rationale behind reducing the number of flights at several major airports during the shutdown.
During a live event with Breitbart News, Duffy described how the pressure on air traffic controllers not getting paid after missing their first paycheck last week played into the decision.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on the controllers. And when that happens, I’m asking them to come to work,” Duffy said. “But some of them are new to the business. They don’t have a nest egg that they’ve been able to plan for and prepare for.”
“They’re confronted with what anybody else would be confronted with,” Duffy continued. “Real-life expenses that they’re having to think through, and some of them have made the decision to not come to work, but go take a second job. And what that has done is put a lot of pressure on the air traffic control system. And you’ve seen that play out over the course of the month with more delays and more cancellations.”
Wednesday’s announcement scaling back flights came nearly a week after the Federal Aviation Administration said that 80% of New York area controllers were absent from work. NOTUS reported Wednesday that the shutdown has left air traffic controllers feeling stressed and demoralized.
On Friday, Duffy told Breitbart that there had been more “complaints” from pilots about controllers being stressed and less responsive during the shutdown. He also brought up January’s fatal crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Prior to the crash, several near-miss collisions had been reported, but no action was taken.
“There was information, had someone looked at the data that there were near misses,” Duffy said. “And someone should have said, ‘Listen, stop the cross traffic. The data says don’t do it.’ Well, no one looked at the data. Well, we learned from that.”
The shutdown has also created questions about the FAA’s ability to retain and recruit controllers. In October, lawmakers expressed concern about what the shutdown could mean for controller recruitment efforts.
Duffy said that the shutdown has a “big impact” on the controller workforce shortage that already existed.
“We’re trying to hire more controllers,” Duffy said, adding that the FAA is 2,000 controllers short of an adequate staffing level. “I’m trying to tell young people who are really smart, they’re bright. ‘This is a great job for you. This is a great career.’
And then you hear, ‘Well, actually, you can go a month and not get paid.’ It doesn’t feel like you have a lot of respect by doing this really important job.”
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