Over 1,500 flights were cancelled in the United States, and thousands more were delayed on Saturday as airports were ordered to reduce air traffic amid the government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instructed airlines to cut daily flights by 4% starting Friday at 40 major airports due to air traffic control safety concerns.
The shutdown has now lasted 40 days, making it the longest in history, and the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, said the number of cancelled flights will only increase the longer the shutdown continues.
“It’s only going to get worse,” Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” a Sunday news talk show.
“The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.”
Reductions in flights will reach 6% on Tuesday and 10% by 14 November.
The shutdown has led to a shortage in air traffic controllers, who, alongside other federal employees, have not been paid for weeks.
Around 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay during the shutdown.
According to the FAA, there were air traffic shortages impacting 42 airport towers and other centres and delaying flights in at least 12 major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago and New York on Saturday.
“We’re going to see air traffic controllers, very few of them coming to work, which means you’ll have a few flights taking off and landing,” Duffy said.
Duffy also said it was possible he could require 20% cuts in air traffic if more controllers stopped showing up for work.
Airline officials have privately expressed concerns about the number of delay programs, making it nearly impossible to schedule and plan many flights and expressed alarm about how the system would function if staffing issues worsen.
