By Admin 
The country’s longest government shutdown going on in America is impacting air travel. From Friday, flights will be reduced at about 40 major airports including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This decision has been taken due to shortage of air traffic control staff and to maintain safety.
FAA decides to cut flights by 10%
The FAA said it would reduce air traffic by up to 10% at 40 “high-volume” airports. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that flight capacity at 40 major airports across the country could be reduced by 10% in the coming days. The shutdown has now entered its 37th day and has become America’s longest government shutdown to date.
Political deadlock causes shutdown
This time the main cause of controversy is the expansion of the tax credit scheme related to health insurance. The Democratic Party wants this tax credit to continue beyond 2025, so that millions of Americans can get affordable health insurance. At the same time, the Republican Party, whose leader is Donald Trump, is opposing this expansion. Due to this, the government budget could not be passed and America went into a shutdown situation from October 1.
Lack of air traffic controllers and flights affected
Due to the shutdown, there is a huge shortage of air traffic controllers. There have already been restrictions on flights at New York’s JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports due to staff shortage. FAA chief Brian Bedford said many air traffic controllers were falling sick due to stress and fatigue, and had not been paid for a month. Due to this, flights will be reduced in the coming days.
Federal employee status and cutback plans
Approximately 1.4 million federal employees are working without pay or are on forced leave. Many employees are forced to take other jobs or struggle with stress.
The flight reduction plan will be implemented in this way-
- 4% reduction in domestic flights on Friday
- 5% reduction on Saturday
- 6% decrease on Sunday
- Increase by 10% next week
According to CBS News, this reduction will apply to America’s busiest airports – Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International.