Maintaining Highest Safety Standards As Shutdown Drags On

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford laid out in detail the steps they are taking to proactively maintain the highest standards of safety in the National Airspace System as the government shutdown continues, now into its sixth week.

Since the shutdown began on October 1, air traffic controllers and TSA agents have been working without pay and staffing triggers at air traffic facilities have been increasing nationwide. The result is an increasing number of reports of strain on the system from both pilots and controllers. There were 2,740 delays at various airports during the past week.

Secretary Duffy said, “My department has many responsibilities, but our number one job is safety. This isn’t about politics – it’s about assessing the data and alleviating building risk in the system as controllers continue to work without pay. It’s safe to fly today, and it will continue to be safe to fly next week because of the proactive actions we are taking.”

Administrator Bedford said, “We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely. The FAA will continue to closely monitor operations, and we will not hesitate to take further action to make sure air travel remains safe.”

The actions taken were directly informed by a review of aviation safety data by the FAA, including voluntary, confidential safety reports filed by pilots and air traffic controllers.

These actions include:

•  A 4 percent reduction in operations will take effect Friday, November 7, ramping up to 6 percent by November 11, 8 percent by November 13, and 10 percent by November 14.

•  Prohibit some visual flight rule approaches (VFR) at facilities with staffing triggers.

•  Commercial space launches and reentries will only be permitted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 am local time.

•  Prohibit parachute operations and photo missions near facilities with a staffing trigger.

Additionally, per normal procedure when delays or cancellations are not the fault of the carrier, airlines will be required to issue full refunds for canceled flights, but not secondary costs.

International flights are not included in the drawdown of flights, and carriers may decide to cancel flights at their own discretion.

Future decisions to increase or decrease flight restrictions will be informed by the safety data. The 40 high impact airports affected by the restrictions are listed on the FAA website.

FMI:  www.faa.gov/