The Department of Transportation may close some parts of US airspace if enough air traffic controllers don’t show up to work, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.
“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos,” Duffy said at a news conference on Tuesday. “You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”
Controllers received a partial paycheck early in the shutdown, and last week missed one entirely. On Thursday, Duffy said, controllers will be sent another paystub that reads $0. He said many controllers cannot go without two paychecks.
Controllers, like Transportation Security Administration workers, are essential employees and are required to work during federal government shutdowns despite not being paid. This past week, TSA and Federal Aviation Administration employees not showing up for work caused massive security wait times in Houston and delays at airports across the country.
“I can’t just go find money and pay air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “That’s not the way our constitution works and our government works.”
Earlier this year, the DOT hired 2,000 controllers to try and address a decades-long shortage, but Duffy said the shutdown “will have an impact.”
“These young people have a choice to make: do they want to go into a profession where they can have a shutdown and they cannot be paid? That’s affected our pipeline,” he said.
Duffy also reaffirmed if the airspace wasn’t safe, the DOT would “shut it down.” He said some controllers may work two positions versus one because of the callouts, which is allowed and safe, but does pose a greater risk.
“We delay flights, we cancel or tell airlines to cancel flights if we don’t have enough controllers to effectively and safely manage our skies, Duffy said. “With this shutdown, it would be dishonest to say that more risk is not injected into the system. There is more risk in the system.”
While most aviation experts agree it is safe to fly during the shutdown, the union representing air traffic controllers, which has pushed hard for the government to reopen, says each day it stays closed, the less safe the system gets.
“Every single day that this goes on, tomorrow is now less safe than today,” said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, on CNN News Central Monday. “We’re supposed to go to work and be 100%, 100% of the time. I’m going to work right now, and I’m thinking about, ‘how do I pay my rent?’”
TSA also sees staffing shortages
TSA workers under the Department of Homeland Security are also going without pay and some of them are not showing up for work.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport warned travelers of up to three-hour waits for security screening this week. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport warned of long lines last month caused by the shortage of workers.
In a statement to CNN, Delta Air Lines, whose largest hub is Atlanta, said it is utilizing a “years-long partnership” with TSA to assist workers near screening checkpoints and “free up” certified TSA screeners to process passengers.
“Delta Air Lines implores Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government so that our air traffic controllers, TSA and CBP officers charged with the safety and efficiency of our national airspace can collect the paychecks they deserve,” a Delta spokesperson said.