FILE-An Alaska Airlines plane takes off near the air traffic control tower at Los Angeles International Airport on October 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
As the government shutdown enters a record 36th day on Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warns that the agency may be forced to close some of the national airspace to air traffic beginning next week.
Duffy told reporters Tuesday that the situation at airports may worsen with no signs of the shutdown ending anytime soon, as some Federal Aviation Administration workers have already missed one paycheck last week, with their next pay period set for Nov. 11.
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Duffy addresses limiting airspace
What they're saying:
Duffy spoke to reporters at a Tuesday news conference explaining the outcomes if the Department of Transportation is forced to close some airspace.
"Many of the controllers said ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’" Duffy said.
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He added, "If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos, 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. We will restrict the airspace when we feel it's unsafe," the Associated Press reported.
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This week, the U.S. Travel Association wrote a letter to Congressional leaders detailing how the U.S. economy has already lost over $4 billion during the government shutdown, and the association is concerned that things could get worse if the shutdown spills into the holiday travel season.
Flight delays during shutdown
Dig deeper:
As of Wednesday, more than 1,000 flight delays within, into or out of the U.S. have been delayed, with 90 flights canceled, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.com.
Flight delays at airports nationwide have happened due to the Federal Aviation Administration slowing down or stopping traffic briefly when there is a scarcity of air traffic controllers.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by Reuters, FlightAware.com, and the Associated Press. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.