The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began reducing flights by 10 percent on Friday due to air traffic controller staffing shortages amid the federal funding lapse.
“If this continues, and I have more controllers who decide they can’t come to work, can’t control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job — with that, you might see 10 percent would have been a good number, because we might go to 15 percent or 20 percent,” Duffy said at a Breitbart News event in Washington, D.C.
Duffy clarified to The Hill after the event that he was speaking theoretically.
“Could it go there? That’s possible. There’s no plan for that,” Duffy said. “I assess the data and how many controllers I have, and I’m just saying we’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace to make sure we keep it safe. I hope it goes the other direction.”
Airlines began reducing air traffic at 40 airports across the country Friday by direction of the FAA, starting with 4 percent reductions and gradually increasing by 2 percent per day to 10 percent.
Read more at TheHill.com.
