Department of Transportation might be forced to shut down some airspace next week: Duffy
Source: ABC News
Department of Transportation might be forced to shut down some airspace next week: Duffy
"You will see mass chaos," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
By Ayesha Ali
November 4, 2025, 12:10 PM ET
2 min read
The Department of Transportation might be forced to shut down the airspace in certain parts of the country if the government shutdown continues into next week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday.
"So if, if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos," he said. "You will see mass flight delays. You'll see mass cancelations, 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."
Nearly 50% of all major air traffic control facilities face staffing shortages, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Air traffic controllers are required to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown.
"We will delay, we will cancel, any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe" amid the shortages, Duffy told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday, at the same time a ground stop was in effect at Newark Liberty International Airport.
"There is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that's doing two jobs instead of one," he added.
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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/department-transportation-forced-shut-airspace-week-duffy/story?id=127178219
underpants
(193,912 posts)Trump is already sinking like a rock. Their world will chime in with whatever they are told but everyone will know this is on Trumps watch.
Grins
(9,100 posts)So give it to them! This is what small government looks like, you bastards!
Irish_Dem
(77,969 posts)They live for it.
Punish and torment Americans.
bucolic_frolic
(53,259 posts)thanks Trump
erronis
(21,943 posts)if the jet owners have contributed to the trump criminal enterprise fund.
popsdenver
(1,017 posts)not voting in congress to rally the nation behind forcing dems to cave in on his extortion budgeting.......
IbogaProject
(5,420 posts)Shut down blue city airspaces and reduce Economic activity in the areas that actually produce.
Nigrum Cattus
(1,100 posts)the republican't regime
looks like they have cancelled Thanksgiving
next failure is xmas
IronLionZion
(50,341 posts)Chili Pepper
(130 posts)Theres been a shortage of controllers for many years now. The repugs in congress could have addressed this issue years ago but chose not to.
Now all it takes is an uptick in call offs to throw the whole ATC system into chaos.
Prairie Gates
(6,828 posts)RussBLib
(10,348 posts)...I feel bad for those who, for one reason or another, HAVE to fly somewhere. I'll bet they close airspace in blue states before anything else. That's how petty they are.
https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1
slightlv
(7,039 posts)perfect trump sound bites. Starting or ending every single sentence with "the Democrats" ... where are our democrats screaming about WHY they're holding out? Our message is slipping because there's not enough of us in power who are explaining... and for once, the explanation is simple... no long essay needed. Do you need healthcare? Do you want republicans to jack up your insurance costs by 115%? Throw those percentages back at them... loudly and often. People will forget, which is what the republicans are banking on by staying to the "Democrats did this" in every sentence. Say it often enough and people will think its true, whether or not it is. It's an old republican trick, and we seem to be allowing them to get away with it.