Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that the FAA will begin easing flight reductions “only when the data says we should,” as the government shutdown nears a possible end. Speaking to reporters at Central Wisconsin Airport, Duffy said the flight restrictions imposed over the weekend have helped stabilize the system and prevent “chaos” as staffing levels dropped.
“The key mission is safety,” Duffy said. “We saw the trend lines going in the wrong direction,” he added, describing data showing increased runway incursions and loss of separation events. “We are watching this daily.”
Pay and Return-to-Work Concerns
Duffy said the Senate’s late-night vote to fund the government marks a turning point but warned that air traffic controllers may not return to their towers immediately once the measure passes the House.
“I’m concerned that we’re not going to have on day one controllers come back into the towers right away,” he said. “I’m asking them to do that. President Trump has asked them to do that.”
Controllers could receive up to 70 percent of their back pay within 48 hours of government funding resuming, Duffy said, with full payments following soon after. He added that the Transportation Department is and will be monitoring staffing data “hour by hour” to determine when flight reductions can be lifted, but that a funding bill will not automatically fix the ongoing issues U.S. airspace is currently facing.
Bonuses and Accountability
Duffy also echoed the president’s remarks on Monday promising $10,000 bonuses for controllers who worked through the shutdown. The department will review attendance records before awarding any payments, he said.
At the same time, he said the FAA would evaluate next steps for what he described as a possible “continuum of bad actors” who may have used the shutdown as an excuse to miss work.
Duffy acknowledged that many controllers, particularly those who are newer to the profession and may not have much savings, have been under enough financial strain that they are simply unable to come to work because they need to prioritize putting food on the table. He pointed, though, to controllers who took time off before missing their first paycheck.
Trump wrote that controllers who failed to report “will be substantially ‘docked’,” though Duffy indicated that the forthcoming funding bill will not penalize them directly.
Managing a Fragile System
Duffy described the flight reduction plan—initially 4 percent on Saturday, now 6 percent—as a necessary step to give airlines and crews time to adjust.
“It’s better to manage a reduction in flights, to systematically do it, to plan for it, than to let chaos ensue,” he said.
Airlines, he added, have been “good partners” in coordinating the flight reductions and refunding passengers whose flights were canceled.
He said delays had worsened through the weekend but stressed that data-driven management had prevented mass cancellations that might have occurred later in the week if conditions had continued to deteriorate.
With the House expected to vote Wednesday on the Senate’s funding bill, Duffy said he is optimistic that controllers will soon return to work and that safety levels will improve quickly.
“We’re at the cusp of hopefully having the government reopen,” he said.
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