FAA announces flight reductions due to government shutdown

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday there would be a 10% reduction of air traffic in 40 locations across the country due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Officials with the FAA, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, said the reduction in services would begin on Friday.

“Our sole role is that we keep this airspace as safe as possible,” Duffy said in a press conference. “This is about where’s the pressure and how do we alleviate the pressure.”

Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said he has noticed flight controllers reporting “issues of fatigue” since the federal funding lapse began on Oct. 1.

“We are seeing pressures build in a way that we don’t feel – if we allow it to go unchecked – will allow us to continue to tell the public we operate the safest airline system in the world,” Bedford said.

There were 2,133 total delays into, out of or within the U.S. reported on Wednesday, according to data from Flight Aware. One hundred forty-three flights into, out of or within the U.S. were also canceled.

Nearly 85% of delays were due to staffing shortages, Duffy said in a social media post on Monday.

“We do recognize that the controllers are working fastidiously for the last five weeks with this huge burden over their head of lack of compensation and we are seeing some evidence that that fatigue is building in the system,” Bedford said.

Duffy and Bedford did not specify where operations would be limited.