FAA prepares to reduce air traffic across multiple airports, including O'Hare and Midway
For those soon traveling by air, there's a good chance thousands of others will be impacted. The Federal Aviation Administration said it's gearing up to cut 10% of air traffic across the country unless the government shutdown ends.
With just weeks from the busy Thanksgiving holiday, people with paid flight tickets are now wondering how the reduction will impact their scheduled trips.
The FAA is preparing to reduce air traffic at 40 airports, including both O'Hare and Midway, leaving the question of just how many daily flights could get canceled.
"I'm not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we've had a situation where we're taking these kind of measures," said administrator Bryan Bedford.
That's the FAA administrator's reaction when announcing airports across the country will see fewer flights. This comes as the government shutdown is now in its five week with no end in sight. It has left air traffic controllers and TSA agents to increase sick calls, considering they are not getting paid during this situation.
"Many of the same ones who show up continue to show up. Some of those who don't show up continue to not show up, which means we have those who come to work, they're working longer hours, they're working more days, and that's some of the pressure that we're seeing on them, and we want to alleviate that pressure before it would become an issue," Secratary of Transportaion Sean Duffy said.
O'Hare and Midway fall in the top 40 airports. With a 10% reduction at O'Hare, CBS News predicts an estimated 121 flights would get cut daily, resulting in more than 14,000 seats potentially eliminated. When you factor in similar cuts at other airports, there's no denying that travelers will feel the impact.
"We're not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent you know things from deteriorating," Bedford said.
"The only pressure point that we're really concerned with is stopping the government shutdown and getting our air traffic controllers paid. If that happens, we don't have to worry about reducing flights. We don't have to worry about anything else. We can just come to work and do our job," said Drew Macqueen. "But I gotta be honest, the biggest pressure point that we can do is pay the air traffic controllers, stop the government shutdown."
The Airlines for America, the trade association for the major airlines, said, "We are working with the federal government to understand all details of the new reduction mandate and will strive to mitigate impacts to passengers and shippers."
Keep in mind, all of this goes into effect on Friday unless that shutdown comes to an end beforehand. Friday is also the day air traffic controllers will miss their second paycheck.