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US govt shutdown hits aviation hard; 10% flight cut ordered at NY, Washington, 38 other airports
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy cited air traffic control safety concerns as he ordered the flight cuts.
Hit by government shutdown, the US is ordering a 10 per cent cut in flights at 40 major US airports, transportation secretary Sean Duffy said, citing air traffic control safety concerns and adding that the cuts could be reversed if Democrats agreed to reopen the government.
Duffy's announcement triggered chaos as airlines scrambled to make significant reductions in flights in 36 hours and passengers flooded airline customer service hotlines with concerns about air travel in the coming days, Reuters reported.
Also read: US air traffic controllers struggle amid government shutdown: ‘Overworked and underpaid’
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also announced to reduce the air traffic at 40 of the country's "high-volume" airports by 10 per cent beginning Friday, November 7, according to The Associated Press reported. The FAA said that the decision was made in response to the ongoing government shutdown to maintain traveler safety in case the shutdown continues for a long time.
Amid the shutdown, the longest in US history, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents have been working without pay since October 1 as the FAA continues to struggle with staffing shortages. When the FAA is short on air traffic controllers, it temporarily slows or stops aircraft traffic.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to pressure Democrats to end the shutdown and has increasingly raised the specter of dramatic aviation disruptions to force them to vote to reopen the government. Democrats contend Republicans are to blame for refusing to negotiate over key health care subsidies.
Shutdown impacts flight operations
The shutdown has badly hit the air traffic operations in the US as tens of thousands of flights have been delayed since the beginning of the shutdown. Airlines say at least 3.2 million travelers have already been impacted by air traffic control shortages.
"We had a gut check of what is our job," Duffy was quoted as saying by the Reuters as he cited a confidential safety assessment of the impact of the shutdown on controllers that raises concerns about their performance. “Our job is to make sure we make the hard decisions to continue to keep the airspace safe.”
Staggered flight cutdown plan
According to reports, the FAA said capacity reductions at the airports would start at 4 per cent, rising to 5 per cent Saturday and 6 per cent Sunday, before hitting 10% next week. International flights will be exempted from the cuts.
"When we see pressures building in these 40 markets, we just can't ignore it," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford was quoted as saying at a press conference. "We can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating so the system is extremely safe today, will be extremely safe tomorrow."
While the government did not name the 40 airports affected, the cuts were expected to hit the 30 busiest airports including those serving New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. Citing aviation analytics Cirium, Reuters reported that the flight slashing would reduce 1,800 flights and over 268,000 airline seats.
An FAA order is awaited to ascertain the exact impact of the reductions, government officials said.
The shutdown which has been going on for over a month now has left many low-income Americans without food assistance, closed many government services and led to the furlough of about 750,000 federal employees, reports said.
Duffy earlier warned on Tuesday that if the federal government shutdown continued another week, it could lead to "mass chaos" and force him to close some of the national airspace to air traffic.
Airlines have repeatedly urged an end to the shutdown, citing aviation safety risks and shares of major airlines including United and American fell about a per cent in extended trading.
