US transportation secretary will cut flights from Friday due to shutdown

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned that air travel capacity will decline by up to 10% at 40 major airports over the coming days if the government shutdown continues.

The FAA chief said in a news conference with Duffy that the decision, which is expected to affect domestic flights only, was made because air traffic controllers were reporting fatigue.

About 1.4 million federal workers, from air traffic controllers to park rangers, are working without pay – or on forced leave – because the US Congress has not approved a federal funding budget.

Major airports in Atlanta, New York and Washington, D.C., will be affected by the service reduction.

Unions say many employees fall ill due to stress or are forced to accept second jobs.

On Wednesday, the federal government’s funding impasse became the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

“It’s unusual, just as the shutdown is unusual, just as the fact that our controllers haven’t been paid for a month is unusual,” Brian Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said of the planned flight cuts.

Reuters reported, citing four unnamed sources, that flight reductions will be gradual, starting with 4% of domestic flights on Friday, then rising to 5% on Saturday and 6% on Sunday, before reaching a full 10% next week.

The names of the affected airports – all high-traffic locations – will be officially released on Thursday.

The list, which a source shared with CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, includes some of the busiest centers in the country.

These airports include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, and Los Angeles International airports. The BBC contacted the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation for the official list.

The cancellation may affect between 3,500 and 4,000 flights per day. American media also reported that international flights would not be affected.

Budget airline Frontier Airlines has warned customers against buying tickets from other airlines.

“If you’re headed to a wedding, funeral or anything else you need to be somewhere within the next few days — given the risk of flight cancellations, I would suggest passengers purchase a backup ticket on another airline that departs after the first one,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said in a statement on LinkedIn.

The FAA said the service reduction is necessary to ensure U.S. airspace remains safe for passengers.

“We are seeing pressures building in a way that we don’t feel — if we allow it to go unchecked — will allow us to continue to tell the public that we operate the safest aviation system in the world,” Bedford said during Wednesday’s news conference.

Duffy insisted that air travel remains safe, and that the decision to cancel flights was made to maintain safety and efficiency.

If the lockdown continues and adds further pressure to the system, additional restrictive measures may be needed, Bedford said.

American Airlines, the second-largest airline in North America, said in a statement that it is awaiting additional information from the Federal Aviation Administration so it can determine which flights will be canceled, but “we expect that the vast majority of our customers’ flights will not be affected.”

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, another major airline, said in a statement that the company is still evaluating how flight restrictions will affect its services, and that it will let customers know as soon as possible.

“We continue to urge Congress to immediately resolve the impasse and return the national airspace system to full capacity,” the spokesperson added.

Delta Air Lines said through a spokesperson that the vast majority of its flights will continue as scheduled, adding that all customers can change, cancel or refund their flights without penalty.

Long-haul international flights and hub-to-hub flights will not be affected, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby wrote in a memo to employees. Kirby said United’s discounts will be on “regional flights and domestic flights that do not travel between our hubs.”

The CEO added that all United customers, even if their flight was not cut short, are eligible for a refund.

The BBC also requested comment from other major US airlines.

Once the government ran out of money on October 1, most federal employees were sent home and told they would receive their paychecks as soon as the government reopened. However, those deemed essential, such as monitors, had to continue doing their jobs without pay.

Almost immediately after the lockdown began, airports began to feel its effects. Some had to cancel flights for hours after air traffic controllers declared them sick, while others relied on controllers from other airports.

Duffy warned earlier this week that Flight cancellations could be comingHalf of the country’s 30 major airports suffered from staff shortages.

Nick Daniels, president of the trade union that represents more than 20,000 aviation workers, put the situation in stark terms on Wednesday.

“Air traffic controllers are sending text messages saying, ‘I don’t have enough money to put gas in my car to go to work,'” he told CNN.

“We base what we do day in and day out on predictability,” he said. “Right now there is no predictability.”

Speaking to NPR, one observer suggested the situation may be reaching a “tipping point” for them and their colleagues. “This relates to the point in the last lockdown where people started to get bored of it,” they said.

“It reduces that margin of safety if a bunch of people get sick and aren’t at work and I have to do their jobs alongside mine,” another observer told the same broadcaster.

More recently, another observer, a single father, wrote to MSNBC that he worked for the food delivery service DoorDash after the daily air traffic shift ended, and was “only sleeping two hours most nights.”

“Like many families, we did not plan to close,” he wrote. “Yet the bills don’t stop.”

Duffy previously said there was a risk that came with air traffic controllers taking on extra jobs during the shutdown, and he threatened to fire controllers who didn’t show up for work.

“They have to make a decision, ‘Do I go to work and not get paid and not put food on the table? Or do I drive for Uber or DoorDash or wait tables?’ Duffy said Sunday.