U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned that air travel disruptions will deepen in the coming days as the country faces a third consecutive day of federally mandated flight reductions amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Duffy spoke in an interview with CNN’s State of the Union
- “It’s only going to get worse,”
- flight capacity could shrink to a “trickle” in the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving
- a “substantial number” of Americans could miss holiday travel plans as a result
- on Saturday alone, there were 81 “staffing triggers”, incidents where flight operations were curtailed due to staffing shortages
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The background to this chaos is the government shutdown. As essential workers, controllers are required to work during a shutdown but without pay. This has led to widespread absenteeism, many controllers are seeking gig economy work to put food on the table, and operational strain.
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced the cuts on Friday, affecting 40 major airports nationwide, in response to worsening air traffic controller shortages.
- By Sunday morning, more than 4,200 flights had been delayed and 1,520 cancelled, with Duffy warning tha
- The FAA expects the flight reductions to escalate over the week: capacity will drop 4% this weekend, 6% by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday, and up to 10% by Friday.
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Flight disruptions threaten to dent consumer spending and tourism activity heading into the U.S. holiday season. Extended shutdown-related travel chaos could ripple through airlines, hospitality, and retail sectors, adding short-term pressure to service-driven GDP growth.
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If you are in the US and planning a Thanksgiving flight, have back up plans in place would be my advice.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.