Flight cancellations have increased as the government shutdown extends into a second month, causing headaches for travelers across the country.
More than 7,000 flights into or out of the country were delayed on Sunday. According to flight-tracking Website FlightAware. According to the website, the number of cancellations of flights into, out of or within the country is above 2,200.
Hundreds of thousands of delays were seen Sunday at airports including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to FlightAware.
Republicans and Democrats have been locked in a battle over the health care shutdown for more than a month. But recently there has been some movement. At least 10 Democratic senators are expected to vote for a bill to reopen the government sunday evening or monday morning Morning.
On Sunday, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said “15 to 20” air traffic controllers were being retired per day during Government closed.
“I used to have about four controllers retiring a day before the shutdown. Now I’m retiring 15 to 20 per day,” Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So, it will be harder for me to come back after the shutdown and there will be more controllers controlling the airspace.”
“So, that’s going to continue in air travel, beyond the timeframe that this government opens back up.”
Duffy also said on “Fox News Sunday” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had offered to hire air traffic controllers from the reserves amid the shortage during the shutdown.
Duffy told anchor Shannon Bream, “Yesterday I had a message from the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who made a proposal that they have air traffic controllers in the reserves, if we can deploy them – and I don’t know if we can – we have to see what airspace they serve.”
