Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that air travel will be “reduced to a trickle” before Thanksgiving if the government shutdown continues.
“It’s only going to get worse,” Duffy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “I look to the two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.”
“We have a number of people who want to get home for the holidays, they want to see their family, they want to celebrate this great American holiday,” he added. “Listen, many of them are not going to be able to get on an airplane.”
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directed all commercial airlines to reduce flights by 4 percent starting Friday. If the shutdown does not end, the cuts will increase to 6 percent by Nov. 11, 8 percent by Nov. 13 and 10 percent by Nov. 14.
The agency also directed 40 “high traffic” airports to temporarily scale back flights by 10 percent.
Duffy, in announcing the move at a press conference last Thursday, called the moves “proactive” and an attempt to keep the country’s airspace safe.
Amid the government shutdown, air traffic controllers, set to miss their second consecutive paycheck on Tuesday, are increasingly absent. Duffy said that on Saturday alone, 81 staffing shortages were reported at facilities across the country.
When Tapper pressed Duffy on how Thanksgiving travel will be impacted by the restrictions, the the former Wisconsin congressman said a “substantial” number of Americans will not make it home for the holiday.
“You look at the trendline, and it’s only gotten worse as we’ve gone through the shutdown,” Duffy added.
