BALTIMORE: The Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights for a third straight day on Wednesday (Oct 8) at airports including Reagan Washington National and Newark Liberty International Airport as the agency continued to face higher-than-normal staffing shortages.
There were nearly 3,000 flight delays by 5.30pm (Thursday, 5.30am, Singapore time) after 10,000 delays in total on Monday and Tuesday with thousands tied to the FAA slowing flights because of air traffic controller absences at facilities across the country as the government shutdown reached its eighth day.
Some flights at Reagan were being forced to hold in the air due to a slowdown in air traffic, the FAA said.
“Historically, there’s about 5 per cent of delays that is attributed to staffing issues in our towers. Last couple days it has been 53 per cent,” US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on Fox News’ “Will Cain Show.” “My message to the air traffic controllers who work for DOT is show up for work – you have a job to do.”
Air traffic control staffing issues during this shutdown have emerged earlier than the last major halt to government funding in 2019, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, leading to unexpected shortages in cities around the country.