Sean Duffy announced his decision during a Wednesday press conference with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Bryan Bedford. As Bedford explained, this result of the staffing situation at airports as thousands of federal workers — including air traffic controllers — work for a second month without pay due to the shutdown.
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How many flights will be reduced each day?
What caused budget paralysis in the US?
Who announced the reduction in air traffic?
How long does the current shutdown in the US last?
“We see the pressure mounting in a way that we don't feel — if we allowed it to continue to build — that we could continue to tell the public that we have the safest aviation system in the world,” Bedford said.
Thousands fewer flights at US airports
The reduction is to concern 3.5-4 thousand flights every day. This is yet another warning from the Ministry of Transport about difficulties in air traffic related to the paralysis of the work of the federal administration resulting from the failure to adopt a new budget.
Wednesday is the 36th day of the shutdown, which is the current impasse the longest in the history of the country, breaking the record from 2018. Negotiations over the budget compromise have accelerated in recent days, but surprisingly good results of Democratic candidates in Tuesday's elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York may stiffen their negotiating stance. The opposition is blocking the adoption of the new budget because it demands the restoration of health insurance subsidies under the “Obamacare” system.
Accusations against Democrats
On Tuesday, Duffy warned that 2-3 thousand are missing at airports. air traffic controllers.
— In a week, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see massive flight delays. You're going to see mass cancellations and we may even close certain parts of the airspace because we simply won't be able to manage it because we don't have air traffic controllers,” Duffy said.
As a result of the shutdown of 13,000 air traffic controllers and security officers at airports works without paywhich has already led to significant delays at airports. If the impasse continues through Friday, these workers will no longer receive their second payment due.
