3 weeks ago
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Air postulation successful the U.S. could “slow to a trickle” if the federal authorities shutdown lingers into the engaged Thanksgiving question vacation season, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration past week ordered formation cuts astatine the nation’s busiest airports as immoderate aerial postulation controllers, who person gone unpaid for astir a month, person stopped showing up for work.
The reductions started Friday astatine 4% and will summation to 10% by Nov. 14. They are successful effect from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. section clip and volition interaction each commercialized airlines.
On Sunday, 1,375 flights were canceled arsenic of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware. That follows much than 1,500 cancellations connected Saturday.
Duffy has said further formation cuts — possibly up to 20% — mightiness beryllium needed, peculiarly aft controllers person nary wage for a 2nd consecutive wage period.
“More controllers aren’t coming to enactment time by day, the further they spell without a paycheck,” Duffy told “Fox News Sunday."
And helium prepared Americans for what they could look during the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
“As I look 2 weeks out, arsenic we get person to Thanksgiving travel, I deliberation what’s going to hap is you’re going to person aerial question dilatory to a trickle arsenic everyone wants to question to spot their families,” Duffy said.
With “very few” controllers working, "you’ll person a fewer flights taking disconnected and landing" and thousands of cancellations, helium said.
“You’re going to person monolithic disruption. I deliberation a batch of aggravated Americans. I deliberation we person to beryllium honorable astir wherever this is going. It doesn’t get better,” Duffy said. "It gets worse until these aerial postulation controllers are going to beryllium paid.”
The authorities has been abbreviated of aerial postulation controllers for years, and aggregate statesmanlike administrations person tried to person retirement-age controllers to stay connected the job. Duffy said the shutdown has exacerbated the problem, starring immoderate aerial postulation controllers to velocity up their retirements.
“Up to 15 oregon 20 a time are retiring,” Duffy said connected CNN.
Duffy said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth texted him with an connection to lend subject aerial postulation controllers, but it’s unclear whether the unit is certified to enactment connected civilian systems.
Duffy denied Democratic charges that the formation cancellations are a governmental tactic, saying they were indispensable owed to expanding near-misses from an overtaxed system.
“I needed to instrumentality enactment to support radical safe,” Duffy said. “I’m doing what I tin successful a messiness that Democrats person enactment successful my lap.”
