Transportation secretary warns air traffic could be minimized by government shutdown
Sean Duffy said the number of flights affected will multiply if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach a federal budget deal and reminded that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up.
Sean Duffy
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that air traffic could "slow to a trickle" in the short term.
The situation comes after the Trump administration ordered flight reductions at 40 airports to minimize risks in the face of a lack of personnel, such as air traffic controllers, due to the partial shutdown of the federal government.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the number of flights affected will multiply if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach a federal budget deal and recalled that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up soon.
"It's only going to get worse," Duffy said on CNN's "State of the Union," a Sunday news talk show.
Politics
Trump assured that the Democrats "are cracking like dogs" in the face of pressure from the government shutdown
Luis Francisco Orozco
"The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you're going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle," he added.
On Sunday morning, more than 1,330 flight cancellations were being recorded within the United States and to and from this country, according to FlightAware data.
Hardest hit airports
Duffy warned that by Thanksgiving not everyone "are not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights" if there is no agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
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