U.S. transportation leaders now expect the government shutdown to slow down Thanksgiving travel, even if the shutdown ends before the holiday.
This is what we heard from U.S. transportation secretary Sean Duffy during a briefing with reporters on Friday, shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decided to cut 10% of air traffic at 40 major airports around the country. He addressed a direct question about whether the decision and effects of the government shutdown are expected to spill into the Thanksgiving holiday.
“If the government opens, will I see an immediate response from [air traffic] controllers? No,” Duffy said, “the union is telling me it’s going to take time to get them all back in.”
Duffy said the main reason for the FAA’s decision to cut down flights is that air traffic control towers at major airports across the U.S. have been running into staffing problems since air traffic controllers have been working without pay since the start of the shutdown, more than 40 days ago. Duffy added that some controllers have decided to call in sick or leave work until the shutdown is lifted, so it will take time for towers to be back to regular operating levels until more controllers can report back to work.
“They’re the ones that are working six days a week, ten hours a day [without pay]. You can do that for a couple of weeks, but at one point, you’re going to get burned out,” Duffy said.
Action News Jax found that FlightAware was reporting seven cancellations and more than a dozen delays at the Jacksonville International Airport on Sunday morning. The flight tracking site is reporting hundreds of other flights canceled and delayed across other major airports like Chicago O’Hare, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, and JFK in New York.
“I was delayed for two hours,” Mara Chita said, who has been trying to get back home to New York after visiting Jacksonville for a friend’s wedding, “things are supposed to be getting better with time, and I feel like everything is just getting worse.”
Chita told Action News Jax she’s no longer having family visit for Thanksgiving this year over worries that traveling to New York will be next to impossible for her loved ones without any flight cancellations or delays.
“I’m already delayed 30 minutes,” Larry Messinger said, after we started talking with him inside JIA, “we need to get [air traffic controllers] paid. I mean, there’s a lot of lives at stake.”
FlightAware is already reporting canceled flights at JIA tomorrow. AAA, the FAA, and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority are advising travelers to check their flight status and make sure they aren’t on a delayed or canceled flight before heading to their airport. If your flight has been canceled, we have information about possible refunds at the link here.
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