Why flight disruptions could linger even after the shutdown : NPR
The planes are parked Tuesday at the gates near the air traffic control tower at Tampa International Airport in Florida. Airports across the United States have experienced flight delays and cancellations, with airlines reducing flights at dozens of major airports to ease pressure on air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay during the current government shutdown.
Chris O’Meara/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Chris O’Meara/AP
WASHINGTON — Flight disruptions are expected to continue even after the government reopens, airlines and aviation regulators warned, as airlines canceled many flights Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to reduce air traffic at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, with reductions of up to 10% of flights by Friday. The agency faces a continuing shortage of air traffic controllers, who must work without pay during the shutdown, which is now the longest in U.S. history, at 42 days and counting.
Last weekend, the FAA reported staffing shortages at dozens of facilities, prompting the agency to slow air traffic to ease pressure on air traffic controllers reporting for work. Airlines canceled more than 1,200 flights as of Tuesday, according to airline tracking site FlightAware.
The situation appeared to be improving somewhat Tuesday, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, with only a handful of FAA installations reporting staffing shortages. But Duffy said restrictions on air traffic would remain in place until regulators were satisfied that staffing levels had returned to normal levels.
“We’re going to wait to see the data on our side before we remove travel restrictions,” Duffy said during a news conference at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. “But it depends on the controllers returning to work.”
Even when these restrictions are lifted, it may take several days for airlines to resume normal operations.
“It’s going to take a little time to relax,” former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in an interview with NPR. All things considered.
“The planes are in the wrong cities and so on. They’re going to have to sort all that out as well. So a lot of the responsibility will fall on the carriers to get their schedules back on track and get the planes and personnel back into the right positions to resume normal flights,” Babbitt said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that airlines may have to “stop flying” if lawmakers in Congress don’t vote to end the government shutdown.
Seth Wenig/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Seth Wenig/AP
An aviation industry trade group, Airlines for America, also warned that it would take time for carriers to return to normal.
“Reduced airline flight schedules cannot immediately return to full capacity right after the government reopens. This will take time and there will be residual effects for several days,” the group said in a statement.
The FAA says the flight restrictions are necessary to keep the system safe as fewer air traffic controllers report to work during the government shutdown. Some of those controllers took on second jobs during the shutdown, and many got sick.
But for critics of the Trump administration, the move appears to go beyond simple security. Some Democrats say the budget cuts were a political ploy to increase pressure to end the government shutdown.
Secretary Duffy rejected that accusation Tuesday, saying the administration was responding to pilots’ real concerns and growing concerns about the growing loss of separation between planes.
And he warned of even greater disruption to come if lawmakers don’t vote to end the shutdown.
“Airlines may stop flying, period,” Duffy said in Chicago. “It may be that airlines say: we are going to ground our planes, we are not going to fly anymore. That shows how serious it is.”
