U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, released the following statement in response to the announcement by U. S. Department of Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, that air traffic will be cut by 10%t at 40 high-traffic airports beginning today if the federal government is still in a shutdown. Moran says the on-going staffing shortage of air traffic controllers, due to the government shutdown, has made a reduction in flights a harsh but necessary consequence of the shutdown. He says we must keep our skies safe, and it’s long-past time to fund the government, pay air traffic controllers and TSA agents and keep our nation’s airspace safe and fully functioning.
The U. S. Air Traffic Control System already faced staffing shortages before the government shutdown began October 1st. Since then, the shutdown has worsened the staffing shortage as air traffic controllers are working without pay, leading to a spike in air traffic controller absences. The Department of Transportation says that 84% of all delay minutes on November 2 were due to staffing shortages. That number is usually 5%. Yesterday, November 6th, more than 2,133 flights in and out of the United States, were delayed and 146 were cancelled.
