US may close airspace due to prolonged shutdown

US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy stated that if the situation with aviation safety continues to deteriorate due to the second monthly government shutdown, the possibility of a complete closure of the country's airspace cannot be ruled out. This is reported by UNN with reference to Bloomberg.

Details

"If we decide it's unsafe, we'll shut down the entire airspace," Duffy said, noting that the US has not yet reached such a decision, but risks to the aviation system are increasing.

In total, more than 3.2 million passengers have experienced flight delays and cancellations related to staffing shortages. The American tourism industry has already suffered losses of more than $4 billion due to the government shutdown, according to a letter from the US Travel Association, which was sent to lawmakers on Monday along with hundreds of tourism organizations and companies.

With Thanksgiving approaching — the busiest travel period of the year — the consequences of a further shutdown will be immediate

According to the administration, half of the 30 busiest facilities on Friday were operating with staffing shortages, and almost 80% of air traffic controllers were absent from facilities managing flights in the New York area.

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It is noted that on Friday, more than 6.2 thousand flights were delayed and almost 500 were canceled in the US. Cirium reported that on Sunday, slowdowns were also observed in Nashville and Orlando: timely departures were less than 80%. In Orlando, about 70% of flights departed on time, in Nashville - 59%, and in Newark - only 56%.

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