Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the Department of Transportation may have to close certain airspaces. The potential closures could pose a threat to families traveling to Los Angeles for USC’s annual Trojan Family weekend, which is being held November 6-9.
The announcement comes as airports across the country are dealing with a shortage of air traffic controllers and essential government workers who are working without pay due to the government shutdown. Duffy said that staff shortages are due to more workers than usual calling in sick, which may lead to officials potentially shutting down certain airspace due to safety concerns.
If an airspace becomes unsafe, Duffy says that the DOT would “shut it down.”
“You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers,” he said at the news conference.
Ashley Bongard, a sophomore business administration major, has family flying in from both Milwaukee and Mexico City. She expressed concerns about her family’s travel plans for both Trojan Family weekend and the Thanksgiving holidays.
“My mom’s been freaking out about it, because they’re all flying in, and then also just concerned about Thanksgiving travel,” Bongard said.
According to FlightAware, more than 4,000 flights within, into, or out of the United States were delayed yesterday. Bongard said that her family hopes that the flights get out on time and is tracking to see if any flights are delayed or stopped entirely.
“My mom was talking to me on the phone yesterday, and she was saying she’s nervous about how late she’s going to get in because they’re already taking a nighttime flight,” Maya Stoudamire, a junior communications major from North Carolina, said. “They’re scared they’re going to get in super late and just kind of scared of what the airport’s gonna be like.”
Air traffic controllers and other airport employees across the country have been affected by the government shutdown, which has left them and other essential government workers without pay for their work, prompting some workers to refuse to report to duty.
“A lot of people that I know, family and friends, have been affected by the government shutdown,” Kyndal Foster, a sophomore journalism major from Baltimore, said. “I do know that BWI’s [Baltimore/Washington International Airport] air traffic control is really behind at the moment, because a lot of those people aren’t working right now, and their furloughed. So that’s definitely causing some issues.”
The government shutdown has now broken the record for the longest shutdown in the country’s history, reaching 36 days. According to The Guardian, it has left hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and jobs, adding to the struggle to maintain proper security within various national institutions such as the TSA.
Julia Kartin, a senior business administration major from Pennsylvania, described how her parents are adapting to the uncertainty at airports.
“They’re at the airport really early,” Kartin said. “They’re finishing their work day and hoping just to get through TSA early because they don’t really know what to expect.”
With no end in sight for the government shutdown, congressional leadership hopes to find a compromise. But the effects of the shutdown have left a big impact on government workers and travelers heading into the holiday season.