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The US transport secretary has threatened to close sections of the nation's airspace if the government shutdown drags on, potentially triggering massive travel disruption. Sean Duffy issued the stark during a press briefing. He declared on Tuesday: "You will see mass flight delays. You'll see mass cancelations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don't have the air traffic controllers." Almost half of all major air traffic control facilities are grappling with staffing shortages due to the US government shutdown, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Around 13,000 air traffic controllers are currently grafting without pay, the agency revealed. Duffy said numerous controllers have been forced to take on additional jobs to survive as they endure a second month without wages, reports the Daily Star . He added: "The F.A.A., and us, will close the airspace down, we will restrict the airspace when we feel it's not safe. "People always ask me is the system safe, and I would tell you yes, the system is safe - and if it wasn't, we would shut it down. But with this shutdown, it would be dishonest to say that more risk is not injected into the system." The US government shut down for the first time in seven years on October 1 after Republic and Democrat lawmakers failed to agree a spending bill. It brought government services to a grinding halt and forced hundreds of thousands of essential workers to go without pay. Even before the shutdown, many controllers were working overtime hours due to staff shortages. Some controllers have also been forced to cover two positions. Duffy said the shutdown was exacerbating that workload. He added: "They have to work those two positions because their colleagues have called in sick or they’re waiting tables or they’re driving Uber." His comments come just days after the Federal Aviation Administration reported that nearly 80 per cent of air traffic controllers assigned to facilities in the New York area were absent. Duffy added: "We’ve tried to pull every dollar we can for different programs where we’re legally allowed to pull and fund. But the truth is, the law doesn’t allow me to say, ‘the Congress hasn’t funded the government, I can just go find money and pay air traffic controllers.’ That’s not the way our Constitution works and our government works."
