The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, and the FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, said on Wednesday the federal government would be reducing airline traffic by 10% at 40 locations beginning on Friday if the government shutdown does not end by then.
Duffy’s announcement did not specify which 40 airports would see the reduction in airport traffic.
The comments come after Duffy warned earlier this week that the US may close portions of its airspace if the shutdown, now on its record-breaking 36th day, does not end.
“Many of these employees, they’re the head of household,” Duffy said. “When they lose income they are confronted with real-world difficulties on how they on how they pay their bills.”
The 10% reductions are aimed at reducing the stress on air traffic controllers, who have been working throughout the shutdown without pay.
Duffy said that the FAA was offering cash bonuses to retiring air traffic controllers to stay on staff, and that the air traffic controller academy was increasing recruitment in efforts to ease the shortage.
The shutdown, which began on 1 October, has since left shortages of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers, according to the administration, in addition to at least 11,000 more receiving zero wages despite working as essential workers over the last two weeks. Duffy said that the controllers received a partial payment at the onset of the shutdown, “a big fat zero” for their checks two weeks ago, and could expect the same tomorrow.
On Wednesday morning, the shutdown entered its 36th day, becoming the longest in United States history. Duffy’s tweets announcing the 10% reduction in staffing came on the heels of a post with AI-generated art blaming congressional Democrats for the shutdown.
