On Wednesday, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced a number of airspace restrictions due to the ongoing government shutdown.
At a press conference, Duffy outlined what he called additional measures to take to reduce the risk profile in the national airspace.
“One of them, though, is going to be that there is going to be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” he told reporters. The restrictions will go into effect on Friday. It will impact roughly 4,000 flights nationwide.
The decision was driven by mounting concerns over staffing shortages and safety risks within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the broader aviation network.
On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ attempt to reopen the government for a 14th time, all but ensuring that the government shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his Democratic caucus are still largely entrenched in their position that unless an ironclad deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies is struck, they won’t reopen the government.
During a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer squarely placed the blame for the healthcare issue on Republicans and President Donald Trump as Americans got notices of increased premiums over the weekend.
“The only plan Republicans have for healthcare seems to be to eliminate it, and then to tell working people to go figure it out on their own,” he said. “That’s not a healthcare plan. That’s cruel.”
However, Democrats’ resolve showed signs of weakening on Monday, when a group of nearly a dozen Senate Democrats met behind closed doors to discuss a way out.
When asked if he believed that the shutdown could end this week, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) who has routinely engaged in bipartisan talks since the shutdown began, said, “I don’t know, I hope so.”
“Bottom line is they can stop all this with one vote and get back into it and get back to work on a bipartisan basis,” he said. “Again, that’s what we’re hoping.”
Nearly 50% of all major air traffic control facilities face staffing shortages, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Air traffic controllers are required to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown.
About 13,000 air traffic controllers are currently working without pay, according to the FAA. On Friday, the agency said that 80% of the New York area staff had called out.
