Transport Minister Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Brian Bedford said Wednesday that the federal government will cut air travel by 10% in 40 “high-volume markets” starting Friday if the government shutdown does not end by then.
The announcement did not specify which 40 airports would see cuts and said the full list would be announced Thursday, with cuts likely to be at the nation's 30 busiest airports, including those serving New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. The reduction will affect freight, private and passenger transportation.
Reuters reported that the cuts would start at 4% on Friday, rise to 5% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday before reaching 10% next week, and that international flights should be exempt from the initial cuts. Analytics firm Aviaion Cirium estimates the cuts will lead to the elimination of up to 1,800 flights and more than 268,000 airline seats.
The comments come after Duffy. warned earlier this week that the US could shut down some of its airspace unless the shutdown, now in its record 36th day, ends.
Duffy and Bedford repeatedly framed the decision as a proactive and data-driven safety measure. Bedford said air traffic is currently operating safely, but the FAA is concerned about numerous reports of air traffic controller fatigue.
“As we drill down into the data, we see the pressure building in a way that we believe if we allow it to go unchecked, it will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest airline system in the world,” Bedford said.
“Many of these employees are heads of households,” Duffy said. “When they lose income, they face real challenges paying their bills.”
The 10% cut is aimed at reducing the workload on air traffic controllers, who have been working for free throughout the shutdown.
Duffy said the FAA is offering cash bonuses to retiring air traffic controllers to keep them on the payroll, and that the FAA academy is increasing its hiring in an attempt to alleviate staffing shortages.
Bedford said the FAA will meet with airline representatives to discuss how to reduce traffic volumes. Bedford and Duffy said there were options for further action if the shutdown continued and if it was deemed necessary for the safety of passengers. He did not go into detail when asked about how to ensure that routes or airlines are not disproportionately affected, or how smoothly the FAA expects the cuts to go through, given that the agency estimates it processes more 44,000 flights and 3 million passengers per day.
The reduction in air traffic is expected to worsen flight delays and long security waits that have plagued U.S. airports since the shutdown began.
“I don’t know in my 35-year history in the aviation market that we have taken action like this,” Bedford said. “We are in new territory in terms of the government shutdown.”
The shutdown that began Oct. 1 has left up to 3,000 air traffic controllers short, as well as at least 11,000 more, according to the administration. I get zero salary despite being essential workers for the past two weeks. The FAA is already about 3,500 positions short of its planned staffing levels.
Duffy said supervisors received partial payment at the start of the shutdown and a “big fat zero” on their checks two weeks ago and can expect the same tomorrow.
The problems with America's air traffic control system didn't start with its closure: A 2023 study found that 20 of the nation's 26 most important airports had staffing levels below the minimum level of 85%, and Newark's Liberty Airport experienced communications outages this spring. brought attention to this issue at the national levelas well as a collision between a military helicopter and a passenger plane it killed 67 people near Reagan Washington National Airport.
Shares of major U.S. airlines fell about 1% in extended trading. The announcement comes just weeks before the holiday season and some of the busiest travel of the year kicks off on Thanksgiving.
On Wednesday morning, the quarantine entered its 36th day. became the longest in US history. Duffy's tweets announcing a 10% staff cut followed a post he made of artificial intelligence-generated art blaming Democrats in Congress for the shutdown.
Reuters provided the report
