Travelers across the country are scrambling after hundreds of flights were canceled due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s unprecedented order forcing airlines to cut 4% of flights to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers during the ongoing government shutdown.
The cuts, which took effect Friday, affect 40 major, high-traffic U.S. airports. If the shutdown continues, flight cancellations will increase to 6% on Tuesday and gradually thereafter until they reach 10% on Nov. 14.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford cited increased staffing pressures and concerns over fatigue among air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1.
International president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Sara Nelson, joined “Morning Joe” on Friday to discuss the toll the shutdown is taking on airport employees across the country. Nelson said cutting flights is “a common strategy when there are additional risks entered into the system.”
“We slow down the system so that we don’t have a safety problem, so that we are able to mitigate those risks,” she explained. “But what this is doing is having a ripple effect: People are not going to be able to get their medicine, they’re not going to be able to get their packages, they’re not going to be able to get to their loved ones who are in pain or are dying.”
Nelson warned that if the shutdown continues and the 10% reduction is met next week, the situation at America’s airports will only get worse. “They essentially have to take a five-lane highway in the air, and move that down to a two-lane street, and so that really slows everything down,” she said.
The union president praised air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers for “coming to work every day to keep this system going,” but noted that they could soon reach their breaking point.
“They are heroes, but they’re humans, and humans will break at a certain point when they can no longer put a tank of gas in their car, when they can no longer get a meal to eat, when they can no longer buy their own insulin to take care of themselves or their families,” Nelson said. “These issues will come to a head.”
Nelson called the current situation “simply unsustainable” and called on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to end the shutdown. “This is urgent right now to fix today,” she stressed. “Congress has got to pass this today — and it’s very, very simple. This is not difficult: Negotiations, extend the subsidies and open the government.”
“How can we allow ourselves to expect people to come to work for free for 38 days now?” Nelson asked. “We don’t do that anywhere in the private sector … because we understand that you cannot operate a business without paying people for coming to work.”
You can watch Nelson’s full appearance on “Morning Joe” in the clip at the top of the page.
