Airports are now short-staffed staffed which is eventually causing flight delays all over the United States amidst the shutdown of the federal government, which has come up to its its ninth day. Reagan National Airport, among many other airports, recently reported these delays concerning staffing issues on Wednesday. Throughout this week, problems have also been reported from airports in Chicago, Newark, Denver, and Nashville, and the worst scene came when the Burbank tower in California had to shut down for several hours.
The Union leaders for airport security owners and air traffic controllers have even warned that the situation might be worsened if the shutdown continues, with employees missing out on their paychecks. Also, more than 3,000 flights were delayed Tuesday, according to flight tracking data.
President Trump, when asked about the delays in the Oval Office on Tuesday, attempted to shift the blame entirely on the democrats by saying, “They’re all Democrat delays. There are delays at the airport, that’s standard. And again, this is something that, every day we put forth a bill, just a continuation, it’s a very simple thing to sign and very simple to do, and I really think that these are people that, I think they have nothing to lose.”
He further said, “They have a party that’s out of control. They have no leader, nobody knows who the leader is.” Trump didn’t miss ranting an attack on several female Democrats. “I look at people with very low IQs like [Jasmine] Crockett, this woman Crockett, I’ve never met her but she’s a low IQ individual,” he said. “I look at AOC talking how ‘If they want to negotiate they can come to my office,’ she’s not in a position to do that and who the hell is she to say that? And then I watch Nancy Pelosi not knowing what to do.”
Though air traffic controllers are still expected to work despite the fact that they won’t be paid during the government shutdown. Reports say that they are due to receive partial pay next week for the work they’ve done before the shutdown on 1 October after Donald Trump and Congress failed to reach an agreement regarding the funding of federal operations.
However, Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, said Monday that there has already been an uptick among the air traffic controllers, calling out sick at a few locations. Sources also say that there has been a 50% cut in the air traffic staffing in some areas since the shutdown began.
Concerning the fact that there aren’t enough controllers, the FAA must reduce the number of takeoffs as well as landings for safety, which are eventually causing flight delays and even cancellations. “If we don’t have controllers, we’re going to make sure the airspace is safe. So what we do is we’ll slow traffic,” Duffy said on Tuesday on Fox News’ Fox and Friends. Risk of wider impacts, concerning the US aviation system, “is growing by the day” as federal workers whose jobs are seemingly critical at present, are continuing to work without pay, travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said.
He further warned that it might affect holiday travel plans in November, if the shutdown continued. “I’m gravely concerned that if the government remains shut down then that it could disrupt, and possibly ruin, millions of Americans’ Thanksgiving holidays,” Harteveldt said in a statement.
