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As the federal shutdown continues, US flights will be reduced to “a trickle” in the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday because of rising air traffic control staffing shortages, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said in remarks that were broadcast on Sunday. Major airlines were dealing with a third day of government-mandated flight cuts after thousands of delays and cancellations snarled traffic on Saturday. The shutdown, which has reached a record 40 days, has led to shortages of air traffic controllers who, like other federal employees, have not been paid for weeks. “It’s only going to get worse … the two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said on CNN’s State of the Union programme. Millions of people usually travel in the run-up to Thanksgiving, one of the most important US holidays, which this year falls on November 27. “Many of them are not going to be able to get on an aeroplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up,” Duffy said. The Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut 4 per cent of daily flights starting on Friday at 40 major airports because of air traffic control safety concerns. Reductions in flights are mandated to reach 6 per cent on Tuesday and then hit 10 per cent by November 14. The FAA on Saturday said air traffic control staffing shortages were impacting 42 airport towers and other centres and delaying flights in at least 12 major US cities, including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. A growing number of air traffic controllers have retired since the federal shutdown started on October 1, Duffy said. The FAA is 1,000 to 2,000 controllers short of full staffing, he told CNN. “I paid experienced controllers to stay on the job and not retire,” Duffy said. “I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown … now up to 15 to 20 a day are retiring.” Some 1,550 flights were cancelled and 6,700 were delayed on Saturday, up from 1,025 cancellations and 7,000 delayed flights on Friday. Airline officials privately said the number of delay programmes made it nearly impossible to schedule and plan many flights and expressed alarm about how the system would function if staffing issues worsen. The cuts, which began on Friday morning, include about 700 flights from the four largest carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. The airlines are expected to cancel about the same number of flights on Sunday. During the government shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay. Duffy had earlier said he could require 20 per cent cuts in air traffic if more controllers stopped showing up for work. Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas said he was told by the FAA that since the shutdown started pilots have filed more than 500 safety reports about mistakes made by air traffic controllers because of fatigue. Meanwhile, economic growth in the fourth quarter could be negative if the federal shutdown drags on, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday. Hassett, speaking to the CBS programme Face the Nation, noted that the shortage of air traffic controllers was causing major travel delays. “Thanksgiving time is one of the hottest times of the year for the economy … and if people aren’t travelling at that moment, then we really could be looking at a negative quarter for the fourth quarter,” he said.
