Boyle pointed to the recent announcement indicating that there will be a four percent reduction in flights across the country due to the government shutdown. That is expected to scale up to ten percent next week.
Offering a breakdown of the situation, Duffy said air traffic controllers are in a tight spot, expected to miss a second full paycheck, as the first was only partial.
“The second paycheck was flat zero. They just got noticed that the second full paycheck will be a big fat zero. That comes next week. And so there’s been a lot of pressure on the controllers. And when that happens, they’re thinking, I’m asking them to come to work. That’s important. They come to work. But some of them are new to the business. They don’t have a nest egg that they’ve been able to plan for and prepare for,” he said, explaining that they are confronted with paying mounting bills and many are forced to make the decision to get a second job.
“And what that has done is put a lot of pressure on the air traffic control system, and you’ve seen that play out over the course of the month with more delays and more cancelations. And by the way, it’s not in the same place every day. One day it might be in L.A., then it might be in New York, and then it’s Houston or Dallas or Orlando. It’s never the same place. And so we look at data,” Duffy said, noting that the data indicated that lowering flights immediately by ten percent could have been even more disruptive. Therefore, they are phasing it in.
Ultimately, Duffy said it is all about mitigating the risk.
“We always try to manage the risk. Nothing is ever fully safe. A car is not safe. Walking down the street is not fully. There’s risk in everything we do. I’m trying to minimize the risk through this government shutdown and bring us to a matrix that matches what we had before the shutdown,” he said, noting he has actually received complaints from Democrats.
This, he continued, is not a political decision.
“We have worked overtime to make sure that we minimize the impact on the American people. We’re trying to help the American people,” he said, adding that it is frustrating when he is attacked by Democrats, as there is an easy solution to all of these problems: “Open the damn government.”
“Vote to open the government. So those who snipe at me for having to take really unique action, they put that on my on my plate, so open it up,” he added.
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