This number represents a significant increase compared to the approximately 5,300 delays recorded on Saturday (25); According to US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days
More than 8 thousand flights were delayed in on Sunday (26), amid the federal government shutdown that affects the pay of air traffic controllers. The data is from the Reuters agency, based on the FlightAware monitoring website. The number represents a significant increase compared to the approximately 5,300 delays recorded on Saturday (25).
The country has been facing shutdown — a partial shutdown of government activities — since October 1, after Congress failed to approve a provisional financing measure. As a result, thousands of federal employees, including flight controllers, are working without pay.
Staff shortages at control centers have caused a wave of delays and cancellations at airports across the country. According to US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days. In an interview with Fox News, he stated that the number of controllers who resign or leave due to health problems is growing. “Just yesterday we had 22 layoffs, one of the highest numbers since the start of the strike. The controllers are running out,” he declared.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that flights to Los Angeles International Airport were temporarily suspended on Sunday due to staffing shortages at a facility in Southern California. There were also delays at airports in Chicago, Washington and Newark, New Jersey. Between 11:42 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET, planes bound for Los Angeles were held at their origin airports, according to the FAA. While the outage did not cause major impacts at LAX, airports such as Dallas Fort Worth and Dallas Love Field experienced delays due to weather and technical issues.
The lack of controllers also hampered operations in Newark, Teterboro (New Jersey) and Fort Myers (Florida). At night, the FAA reduced air traffic at Ronald Reagan airport in Washington and O’Hare airport in Chicago for the same reason. The situation reinforces the growing impact of the shutdown on essential services and generates concern among passengers and airlines, which still have no plans for the normalization of operations.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
