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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned U.S. air travelers that flight delays and cancellations will only “get worse” as the government shutdown extends into its sixth week. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began reducing flights at 40 major airports on Friday amid the ongoing government shutdown, causing thousands of delays and cancellations across the country over the weekend. Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the disruptions will worsen as the country approaches its busiest travel season of the year. Duffy told CNN’s Jake Tapper that air traffic controllers are not showing up to work as they continue to miss paychecks during the government shutdown. He also suggested Thanksgiving travel will be impacted if the government is not reopened in the coming weeks. “To answer your question, it’s only going to get worse. I look to the two weeks before Thanksgiving. You’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said. “We have a number of people who want to get home for the holidays. They want to see their family. They want to celebrate this great American holiday. Listen, many of them are not going to be able to get on an airplane because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up,” he added. When asked how many people will miss their Thanksgiving travel plans, Duffy said the number will be “substantial.” “Again, you look at the trend line, Jake, and it’s only gotten worse as we have gone through the shutdown,” Duffy said. The flight reduction, ordered by Duffy, affects some of the busiest airports around the U.S., including Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro and major New York airports. On Sunday, the FAA reported some arrivals at Newark were delayed an average of 2 hours and 14 minutes due to staffing shortages. He explained that federal officials will eventually reduce traffic at major airports by 10% after reducing it by 4% starting on Friday. He reiterated that officials are still working to ensure it is safe to travel despite ongoing staffing shortages. “Yes, so we’re working overtime to make sure that it is safe to travel. And so if we have staffing triggers in locations in the American airspace, what we will do is, we will slow traffic, which means you will have delays, and then airlines might cancel flights,” Duffy said. “The problem is that, as I try to reduce the pressure by lowering flights, I have more controllers that keep not coming to work. And so the pressure goes back up again. And so I’m critically aware of that pressure, of rising risk and trying to take that out of the system,” he added. It’s not clear when the government shutdown will end. Democrats have vowed to oppose any GOP spending bill that does not include an extension for expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Republicans have refused to negotiate on the issue.
