Parts of U.S. airspace could be shut down as soon as next week if the U.S. government shutdown drags on and air traffic controllers continue to not get paid, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Tuesday.
There have been growing flight delays and cancellations across the U.S. because of a shortage of air traffic controllers, creating safety concerns that force the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to slow down or temporarily stop traffic.
Duffy said those workers are being forced to make difficult choices to keep feeding their families the longer the shutdown lasts, and said there could be “mass chaos” after air traffic controllers miss their second paycheque next Tuesday.
“You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations, 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,” Duffy told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Pennsylvania.“We will restrict the airspace when we feel it’s not safe.”Duffy added the Transportation Department has no contingency funds to pull from to pay air traffic controllers, who he noted will get a paystub Thursday for their next paycheque “that will show a big fat zero.”
Air traffic controllers last week missed their first paycheque since the shutdown began.
Last weekend saw some of the worst staff shortages and on Sunday, flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were delayed for several hours.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that over 5,000 flights to and from U.S. airports were delayed on Sunday alone.
She added there have been four times the number of air traffic controller staffing shortages reported during the shutdown compared to last year.
The shutdown has also created staffing shortages for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), leading to mounting delays at airport security checkpoints.
The possibility of airspace closures and further chaos at the nation’s airports creates another pressure point for Congress to end the shutdown, which is now in its 35th day.
It will become the longest shutdown in U.S. history as of Tuesday night unless Republicans and Democrats reach a deal to fund the government.
“The administration is encouraging Democrats to reopen the federal government so that this chaos and disruption to our air traffic control system in the United States of America stops,” Leavitt told reporters when asked if the White House was advising Americans not to fly next week.
“It is ridiculous that we have even gotten to this place.”
The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, told reporters Tuesday the party continues to push for a bipartisan solution to the standoff over whether to extend government health insurance subsidies.
“At the end of the day, it’s the Republicans who shut the government down,” he said.
“This Trump-Republican shutdown is causing great harm and pain to the American people, and it does threaten aviation safety. But Donald Trump has spent more time over the last 35 days talking to Hamas and the Chinese Communist Party than he has talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill to reopen the government.”
The timing of the Trump administration’s warning is also critical, with the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season set to begin later this month.
Duffy told reporters he was confident the system can get back to regular operations quickly if and when the shutdown is ended, but noted efforts to boost staffing and overhaul air traffic control technology are ongoing and will take time to fully resolve.
WestJet and NAV Canada, the country’s air traffic control network, told Global News last week they were not seeing any impacts or delays due to the shutdown’s impacts on air traffic in the U.S.
A spokesperson for Air Canada told Global News it was monitoring the situation in the U.S. “as it has caused some delays for all airlines, but we continue to operate our normal schedule.”