Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced that the drastic reduction in flights imposed during the government shutdown will remain in place until airports return to “normal” staffing levels.
The Federal Aviation Administration enforced a 6 percent reduction in the total number of flights entering, exiting, and travelling within the United States due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
The stringent new rules were brought into effect last week and were expected to force cuts to rise to 8 percent, before rising again to a ten percent reduction.
“There has been a rapid decline in controller callouts, with only eleven staffing triggers on Tuesday, November 11, and four staffing triggers today from a high of 81 on November 8,” the statement read. “Such strong staffing levels suggest a further ramp-up in-flight reductions are not necessary to keep the traveling public safe.
“As the federal government reopens and controllers receive their backpay, the FAA will continue to monitor staffing levels and review key trend lines.”
“The data is going to guide what we do because the safety of the American people comes first,” Duffy said in the FAA statement. “If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations.”
FAA administrator Bryan Bedford added that the federal agency will “continue to monitor system performance hour by hour.”
However, the FAA has not confirmed when the 6 percent cut will be removed entirely, which has raised concerns that delays could cause carnage over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The 6 percent cut will also remain in effect at 40 “high-impact” airports, which include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Reagan Washington National, New York John F. Kennedy International, and Los Angeles International.
Speaking on NewsMax’s Finnerty show, Duffy played down those worries, though, stating, “it’s going to take us probably up to a week to get back to normal, which is right before significant Thanksgiving travel.”
Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled since the government closure began last month. According to FlightAware, 2,769 flights were delayed yesterday, and 910 were cancelled entirely.
Sunday was the worst day for air travel during the shutdown, with 11,000 flights being delayed and nearly 3,000 cancellations taking place, according to FlightAware’s data. Just a day before that, 1,566 flights were cancelled, and a staggering 7,545 flights were delayed.
Many of the delays have been caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers, who have been forced to work without pay throughout the month-long government shutdown. Many of them have had to take second jobs to make ends meet.
Trump has suggested giving air traffic controllers, who worked throughout the shutdown, a $10,000 bonus, but has admitted that he has no idea where this money would come from.
Speaking on The Ingraham Angle, the president said that “We should not have had people leaving their jobs.”
“The ones that stayed, of which there were a lot of them, I’m sending them a $10,000 bonus…” he added.
Ingraham interjected by asking where the money would come from.
“I don’t know. I’ll get it from someplace... I always get the money from someplace regardless, it doesn’t matter,” Trump said, after chuckling. “I do a lot of bonuses for people because it’s really something that… It’s like the American way, when you think about it.”
The Independent has contacted the FAA for further comment.
