The air traffic controller shortage caused by the federal government shutdown has increased risks to air travel and air travel in the United States, Transportation Secretary and interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy said in an interview with CBS News.
The agency's chief noted that air traffic controllers have not been paid for weeks and are facing significant stress as they struggle to support their families, which is why many of them are absent from work.
“Does this increase the risks in the system? Of course it does. But we always deal with it. We don't want incidents. "We want people to travel safely, so we will slow down and stop traffic if we feel we can't keep people safe while they're traveling from point A to point B," he said.
The agency's chief noted that he has no plans to lay off air traffic controllers who are absent during the shutdown. "I have no plans to lay off controllers. They need support, they need money, they need salaries. They shouldn't be laid off," he said.
The previous day, the US Federal Aviation Administration reported that approximately half of the country's major air traffic control centers were understaffed due to the shutdown. According to the agency, nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for several weeks.
The partial shutdown of the US federal government began at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding after Congress failed to reach an agreement on certain spending items, including health care. Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of provoking the shutdown and prolonging it for political purposes.
Since 1977, funding for the federal government has been interrupted more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest period was 35 days - from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 (during Donald Trump's first term).