The major airlines in the United States have prepared for a third day of flight cuts determined by the government this Sunday (09), after the growing shortage of staff air traffic control got in the way thousands of flights not Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration has instructed airlines to reduce daily flights by 4% starting Friday at 40 major airports due to air traffic control security concerns. The shutdown, which reached a record 40 days, has led to a shortage of air traffic controllers who, like other federal employees, have not received paychecks for weeks.
Flight reductions are expected to reach 6% on Tuesday and reach 10% by November 14th.
The FAA said Saturday that air traffic control staffing shortages have affected 42 airport towers and other hubs and delayed flights in at least 12 major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.
Around 1,550 flights were canceled and 6,700 flights were delayed on Saturday, compared to Friday when 1,025 were canceled and 7,000 were delayed.
Airline officials said privately that the number of delays made it nearly impossible to schedule and plan many flights and expressed concerns about how the system would work if staffing problems worsened.
The cuts include: American Airlines AAL.O, Delta Air Lines DAL.N, Southwest Airlines LUV.N e United Airlines UAL.O. Airlines are expected to cancel roughly the same number of flights on Sunday.
During the government shutdown, .
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it’s possible he could demand 20% cuts in air traffic if more controllers stop showing up for work. “I evaluate the data,” Duffy said. “We will make decisions based on what we see in the airspace.”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz said he was informed by the FAA that since the start of the shutdown, Pilots have filed more than 500 safety reports about errors made by air traffic controllers due to fatigue.
