A government shutdown entered a record 36th day on Wednesday when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced he would order a 10 percent reduction in air traffic at 40 large airports in the United States, citing air-traffic control safety issues.
The drastic plan left airlines scrambling to reduce 36 hours in flights, and passengers flooded airline customer-service hotlines with concerns regarding air travel in the upcoming days.
Duffy indicated that the cuts were reversible in case the democrats reopened the government.
This is the longest shutdown in U.S. history, and 13,000 air-traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents are being compelled to work without receiving wages.
The Trump administration has tried to escalate the pressure on Democrats to end the shutdown and has raised the threat of dramatic aviation disruptions more frequently to make them vote to reopen the government.
Therefore, the democrats argue that the Republicans are the ones who refuse to negotiate on major health care subsidies.
The shutdown has caused tens of thousands of flights to be postponed since their inception due to massive instances of air-traffic control shortages.
Airlines indicate that there are already 3.2 million passengers who have been affected by a shortage of air traffic control.
Duffy informed reporters stating a confidential safety evaluation of the effect of the shutdown on controllers, which concerns their performance. He added, “We had a gut check of what is our job. Our job to make sure we make the hard decisions to continue to keep the airspace safe.”
Industry sources reported that during a conference with key U.S. airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that capacity cuts at the airports would begin at 4 percent with increases to 5 percent on Saturday and 6 percent on Sunday, and then to 10 percent next week.
Meanwhile, another strategy that will be used by the FAA is not to cut international flights.
In a press conference, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said, “When we see pressures building in these 40 markets, we just can’t ignore it. We can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating so the system is extremely safe today, will be extremely safe tomorrow.”
Although the government did not identify the affected 40 airports, the cuts were likely to affect the 30 busiest airports, such as New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Dallas airports.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, it would cut about 1,800 flights and more than 268,000 airline seats.
The decision seeks to relieve air-traffic controllers; the FAA is approximately 3,500 air-traffic controllers below the desired staffing levels, and several of them had been performing compulsory overtime and six-day workweeks long before the shutdown.
However, the FAA also indicated that it might impose additional flight restrictions past Friday in case more air traffic problems arise.
Airlines for America, a trade group that represents the major carriers in the U.S., including Delta, United, American, and Southwest, said that the members were attempting to get the next steps straight.
It was reported that “We are working with the federal government to understand all details of the new reduction mandate and will strive to mitigate impacts to passengers and shippers.”
Officials indicated that nothing would be final until the FAA released a statement on Thursday. The federal government is largely shut down with Congress in a standoff over a funding bill, with the republicans and democrats.
The federal government is largely shut down, with Congress in a standoff over a funding bill with the republicans and democrats.
The Republicans and President Donald Trump have been attempting to escalate the pressure on the democrats by inflicting more pain on average Americans due to the government shutdown.
The shutdown, which commenced on October 1, rendered numerous low-income Americans food assistance, shut numerous government offices, and put nearly 750,000 federal workers on furlough.
Duffy has advised on Tuesday that if the federal government shutdown persists through another week, there would be “mass chaos,” compelling him to close a portion of the national airspace to air traffic.
Airlines have continually pressured to stop the shutdown on the basis of aviation safety concerns.
Shares of large airlines such as United and American declined by approximately 1 percent in after-hours trading.
Airlines have asserted that the shutdown has not greatly impacted their business, but they have indicated that there is a risk of reduced bookings in case it is prolonged. Therefore, more than 2,100 flights were delayed on Wednesday.
Bedford reported on Tuesday that 20 percent and 40 percent of the controllers at the 30 largest airports in the agency were not reporting to work.
Duffy added that the officials would also restrict the launch of space to specific hours of the day and are likely to restrict general flights of aviation.
