Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said yesterday the Trump administration would shutter the US aviation system if he thought an ongoing government shutdown was making it too risky to travel.
“If we thought that it was unsafe... we’ll shut the whole airspace down. We won’t let people travel. We’re not there at this point. It’s just significant delays,” Duffy told CNBC, adding “absolutely there’s more risk” during the ongoing shutdown.
United CEO Scott Kirby said last week the ongoing shutdown was impacting flight bookings and airlines are concerned about the looming start of the holiday travel season.
The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay and snarled tens of thousands of flights.
Duffy also said he has no plans to fire air traffic controllers who are calling in sick, saying they “are trying to put food on their families’ table. I am asking all of them to come to work.”
A growing number of air traffic controller absences during the 34-day-old government shutdown have led to dramatic delays at US airports. Absences by Transportation Security Administration security officers have led to very long lines at San Diego and Houston airports in recent days. Houston Bush had more than three-hour-long security lines on Sunday.
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration said nearly half of the 30 busiest US airports faced shortages of air traffic controllers, leading to more than 6,200 flights being delayed and 500 cancelled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.
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