Americans prepare for Thanksgiving, but Transportation Secretary gives them bad news: Air traffic will be reduced to “minimum” due to shutdown
People wait in line at the security checkpoint at an airport in the United States. Photo: Arvin Temkar / Zuma Press / Profimedia
The US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, warned that air traffic will be gradually reduced “to a minimum”, due to the prolonged government blockade that causes the authorities to reduce the number of flights due to the lack of air traffic controllers, reports News.ro.
Since Friday, the US aviation regulator, the FAA, has been asking airlines to reduce their schedules, which has resulted in the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights a day, or about 4% of US air traffic, as a period of heavy domestic traffic approaches in late November.
“Air traffic will drop drastically as everyone wants to travel to visit their families” on the occasion of the traditional Thanksgiving Day holiday, said Sean Duffy on Fox News.
In the United States, the government shutdown, which has already reached a record 40 days, has left millions of federal government workers without pay, frozen essential food aid and disrupted air travel, among other effects.
Thus, more than 13,000 traffic controllers and 50,000 security agents were forced to work without pay, which led to an increase in absenteeism. Many of them were notified that they will not receive their salary even for the next pay period.
The Trump administration is trying to increase pressure on Democrats in Congress to accept the Republican plan to finance the government, which would allow the reopening of institutions.
More than 2,500 flights have been canceled in the past two days in the US, and the situation is getting more difficult
The second most powerful man in the US is not shy about saying that there will be a “disaster” in American aviation if the “shutdown” period continues
