Copyright The Street
In the United States, approximately three million airline passengers fly daily across 29 million miles of airspace, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Unfortunately, a White House official has now issued a blunt warning that will affect all of those travelers. The warning comes from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Travelers need to be aware that the Department of Transportation and Trump administration officials are alerting the public to the potential for significant problems traveling in the coming weeks. ‘Mass chaos’ could affect air travel U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a stark warning recently. NBC News posted a video of Duffy sounding the alarm. The White House official stated: Secretary Duffy warns of flight delays and cancellations The reason for Duffy’s warning is clear. The U.S. government is shut down, and the shutdown has been a prolonged one. It began on October 1, so it has been going on for over a month, making it one of the longest in history. Due to the government shutdown, air traffic controllers are not being paid. While Duffy assured travelers that the system was safe, he has also made clear that there is a greater risk and that flights cannot continue to run normally, given the fact that air traffic controllers are not coming into work in normal numbers, given their lack of pay. “We delay flights. We tell airlines to cancel flights if we don’t have enough controllers to effectively and safely manage our skies, but with this shutdown, it would be dishonest to say that more risk is not injected into the system. There is more risk in the system,” Duffy said. What airport “mass chaos” means for air travelers So, what does “mass chaos” mean for travelers? Duffy explained that as well. The White House official warned that certain parts of U.S. airspace may need to be shut down entirely, while travelers can expect long delays and many flight cancellations in other areas. Air travel has already been disrupted as a result of the government shutdown, with both TSA workers and air traffic controllers calling in sick. This has caused staffing shortages that have resulted in delays and cancellations at major airports. Why is air traffic chaos going to get worse? The government has been shut down for a long time, and there have already been disruptions, so Duffy’s warning may seem unnecessary, given that people are already aware of problems. However, the issue is that the chaos is going to get worse for a simple yet important reason. “Many of the controllers said, ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’” Duffy explained. What travelers can do about air travel during the government shutdown Unfortunately, travelers have very few options. If the government shutdown does not end, further problems are inevitable. Travelers should be aware of the fact that staffing shortages may prevent flights from running. It’s important to check your flight status before leaving for the airport. More Airlines: Airline cuts last flight into this US city, refunds available TSA issues stern warning on item over 13 million Americans use Spirit Airlines cuts more flights and jobs amid second bankruptcy Travelers will also need to make sure they arrive at their destination in plenty of time to account for potentially longer lines at security when planes do depart. Other than that, putting pressure on officials to end the government shutdown may be the only avenue that travelers have for trying to prevent the promised chaos from interfering with their trips.
