US govt shutdown: Trump officials warn of air traffic cuts, thousands of flights could be cancelled

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, on Wednesday announced that air traffic control in 40 key markets would be reduced by 10 per cent by Friday if the government shutdown continues. “We are going to proactively make decisions to keep the airspace safe,” Duffy told reporters at a news conference.

He went on to predict that the restrictions would result in some cancellations, but adding those would be necessary to “alleviate the pressure” on air traffic controllers in high-traffic areas. Meanwhile, the FAA is expected to announce what areas will be affected by the shutdown on Thursday.

Duffy has been sounding an alarm about the pressure on the FAA’s force of certified air traffic controllers amid the shutdown. Most of the staff are already working overtime shifts to compensate for the fact that about 3,000 of 14,000 positions were vacant before the shutdown, which they are required to work through without pay.

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Worse is yet to come

Earlier this week, Duffy warned that if the government shutdown went on, the FAA would be forced to close parts of the national airspace to traffic. Hence, his Wednesday announcement marked a step in that direction as he and Bedford warned that if staffing issues worsened, more restrictions could be implemented.

“We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators tell us we can take action today,” Bedford said, adding that they planned to work with the airlines to draw back schedules over the next 48 hours.

According to The New York Times, the reductions would also include restrictions on space launches and aircraft operating under visual flight rules. Duffy and Bedford clarified that those operations complicate the already difficult jobs for the air traffic controllers.

Bedford added that the moves were without precedent in his experience, but said the situation was also without precedent. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns,” he said. But he added that in the wake of the January midair crash outside Ronald Reagan National Airport, surveillance of the national airspace had also changed from what it was even a year ago," he said.

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“These are unusual times, and we look forward to a time when we can get back to business as usual,” he furthered.