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With Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatening a 20% cut in airline flights as early as next week if the government shutdown continues, an aviation expert told WTOP that would be devastating to the nation’s economy. Former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti believes aviation remains safe, but passengers could be in for big challenges and the airlines set to lose millions if the cutbacks take place. “Twenty percent would be earth-shattering,” he told WTOP about the flight cuts being implemented by the Department of Transportation are necessary to keep the aviation system’s margin of safety in place. However, the cuts are so large, they might be significant enough to get Republicans and Democrats in Congress and President Donald Trump back to the bargaining table. “If you can think up something to try to bring people to the table to end this shutdown, a 20% reduction would be it,” Guzzetti said. “We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars a day lost in air commerce and airline profits.” He said the magnitude of the cuts that Secretary Duffy is talking about could be devastating to travelers, especially as we get closer to the very busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season. He notes controllers have been working for now 40 days as of Sunday without a paycheck and many are also working six days with mandatory overtime. Adding to the problem, Guzzetti said before the shutdown, the air traffic control system was short about 3,000 controllers because of retirements and the mandatory 55 retirement age. Now, new controller training is halted because there’s no money authorized. Plus, it takes several years of intense training to get controllers fully certified and nearly of 20% of candidates wash out during the process. “It started out in a crater, and now this shutdown is making that crater even deeper,” Guzzetti said. “With regards to safety, I have confidence in the FAA. I have confidence in the commercial aviation industry and the redundancies. So yes, I would not be fearful to fly.” Duffy and Nick Daniels, the head of the air traffic controller’s union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, warn that the situation will only get worse the longer the shutdown continues, and the financial pressure continues to grow on people who are forced to work without pay. FAA employees already missed one paycheck on Oct. 28. Their next payday is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 11. Meanwhile, the organization that represents business aviation, NBAA, is urging its members’ corporate flight departments to avoid the nation’s busiest commercial airports and instead fly to secondary airports whenever possible. “Flexibility is a hallmark of business aviation,” NBAA CEO Ed Bolen said. “That’s why we are urging business aviation operators to avoid the busiest commercial service airports. We know that departure and arrival times can be adjusted, alternate airports can be considered, flight crews can utilize airline travel, and other backup plans can be put in place to ensure missions are accomplished in a variety of ways that reduce tension on the system.” Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here. © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
