Air traffic in the United States will be reduced by 10% at 40 of its major airports starting Friday due to system saturation due to increased air traffic controller fatalities due to the 36-day federal government shutdown. The air restrictions will affect some of the country’s busiest airports, such as those in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta or Washington, according to the CBS network. For now, international flights are exempt from air capacity cuts. The restriction of air traffic now increases pressure on Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to negotiate an end to the administrative shutdown.
Many travelers still don’t know if their flight will be canceled within 24 hours of air capacity cuts announced Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Director Bryan Bedford.
The details offered by Duffy and Bedford are scant and imprecise. Officials familiar with the negotiations warned that nothing will be final until the official order is released, according to Bloomberg.
On Friday alone, up to 1,800 flights could be affected, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. The final figure will depend on the airports affected and how cuts to air capacity are applied. The reduction of flights will be gradual. It will start with 4% this Friday and increase to the announced 10% starting next week, according to the Reuters agency.
According to Bloomberg, the cut in air traffic will force the country’s major airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines, to reduce total seat capacity by 6%.
“We anticipate that the travel of the vast majority of our customers will be unaffected and that long-haul international flights will remain as scheduled,” American Airlines said in a statement. “When schedule changes occur, we will proactively contact customers,” he added.
The already struggling airline industry is now on the verge of collapse due to the government shutdown, which keeps thousands of air traffic controllers without pay. Public workers are forced to lose their jobs because they need another job that gives them income to pay for their mortgage, their children’s schooling or food, as Duffy explained last week.
The Transport Minister explained that more than 13,000 drivers have been working without pay since October 1st, when the closure began. Many controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents take sick leave. The government shutdown puts even more pressure on an already stressed airline system, with thousands of unfilled controller positions and overwork.
Pressure to negotiate an end to the government shutdown
Air traffic restrictions put pressure on negotiations to end the budget freeze, which is already the longest in history. Him stopas the government shutdown is called in English, it has led dozens of federal agencies to have to close or reduce their activities to a minimum due to lack of resources and the absence of agreement between Republicans and Democrats. Negotiations between the two sides continue with no signs of an imminent deal, despite the threat of thousands of flights being canceled this Friday.
Although some centrist Democrats are trying to strike a deal to end the administrative gridlock, many senators, emboldened by last Tuesday’s election victories in New York, Virginia and New Jersey, are determined to persist in their positions to try to secure a victory against Republicans on health care, where they want cuts.
Sources close to the negotiations believe the agreement will not be reached for two weeks, just before Thanksgiving, one of the country’s most popular holidays, when thousands of citizens will travel to meet their families. Forecasts call for record travel in the United States during these dates.
The reduction in air traffic in the midst of the government shutdown is reminiscent of January 2019, when after 35 years of closure of the Administration, the Senate decided to unblock the situation following the announcement of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to limit flights at several airports due to the risk of collapse due to the increase in victims of air traffic controllers.
The government shutdown is also affecting Donald Trump’s administration. The president of the United States blamed the budget freeze as the cause of the electoral failure suffered last Tuesday. And he ordered Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, the rule that allows the processing of laws to be delayed in the Senate until a majority of 60 votes is reached.
“Democrats are much more likely to win the next presidential and midterm elections if we don’t eliminate the filibuster (the nuclear option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to pass common-sense policies with these Democratic fanatics blocking everything by withholding their votes. FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL HAVE PASSED AND THE REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAME. The elections, including the midterms, will, rightly, be brutal,” Trump wrote on his social network, Truth.
But the Republicans do not make the decision to cancel that law because they fear the consequences if the Democrats reach the majority in the Senate, being able to pass all the laws without negotiation. The latest polls give a certain advantage to the Democratic Party in view of the mid-term elections, which will be held next year, and which could cut Trump’s wings in power.
