The U.S. Department of Transportation may need to close “certain parts of the airspace” if the longest government shutdown on record continues into next week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.
“You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations,” Duffy said at a press conference in Philadelphia. “And you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it, because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”
He added, “We will restrict the airspace when we feel it’s not safe.”
Throughout the shutdown that began Oct. 1, Duffy has maintained that commercial air travel remains safe. The tradeoff, though, is that passengers are experiencing more flight delays as officials slow flight traffic based on staffing levels to ensure that the national airspace remains well monitored, Duffy has said at earlier press conferences.
“It’s not moving as many flights as possible, it’s moving as many flights as possible safely,” Duffy said at the House GOP’s press conference at the U.S. Capitol last month. “And if we can’t do that, you’ll see the flights come down. You’ll see the delays, you’ll see the cancellations.”
With air traffic controllers working without pay during the shutdown, more are calling in sick than usual, Duffy has said. He’s said he is discouraging them from taking on side gigs like delivering for Uber or DoorDash to make ends meet during the funding lapse, given the level of focus that their job requires.
“The longer this goes on, every day, these hardworking Americans have bills they have to pay, and they’re being forced to make decisions and choices,” Duffy said Tuesday. “As every day goes by, I think the problem is going to only get worse. Not better.”
At an Oct. 28 news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels emphasized that his organization’s members are under mounting financial pressures.
“Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time,” he said. “And I’m watching air traffic controllers going to work. I’m getting the stories. They’re worried about paying for medicine for their daughter. I got a message from a controller that said, ‘I’m running out of money. And if she doesn’t get the medicine she needs, she dies. That’s the end.'”
