Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was on “Fox News Sunday” with Shannon Bream to talk about the effect of the government shutdown on air travel. He explained that things are getting worse and that there are fewer flights available in light of fewer air traffic controllers showing up for work.
“What does air travel in the US look at, at a 20 percent cut?” Bream asked.
“First off, yesterday, we had 81 staffing triggers with air traffic controllers across the airspace. You reported there was you know, a whole slew of cancellations and delays across the airspace. That trendline is getting worse, right? More controllers aren’t coming to work day by day,” Duffy said.
“I think what’s going to happen, you are going to have air travel slow to a trickle. As everyone wants to travel to see their families, I think we are going to see air traffic controllers, very few of them coming to work,” Duffy warned.
“You’ll have a few flights taking off and landing at our different airports across the country, but the thousands of flights that happen every day to move people around the country for this great American holiday, it’s not gonna happen. You are gonna have massive disruption,” Duffy said.
“I think we have to be honest about where this is going. It doesn’t get better, it gets worse, until these air traffic controllers are going to be paid,” Duffy explained.
Bream told Duffy that polls show that Americans are mostly blaming the White House and Republicans. Duffy explained to her that the government shutdown is at the hand of the Democrat party.
“We have done all we can to make sure we minimize disruption, that we keep the airspace safe, and again, I didn’t create the problem, it’s the Senate Democrats who did,” Duffy explained.
“There is only one side that has voted every single time, fourteen times, to keep the government shutdown. It’s only Republicans who have voted to open it up,” Duffy said.
“In the end, I’m not going to have many tools left in my toolbox Shannon. It’s only going to get worse, and again, we try to minimize the risk, but when we do that, flights are delayed and cancelled,” Duffy said.
“We also see more complaints from pilots, that are saying hey, I’m getting a lack of responsiveness from the controller, or the controller seems stressed, or they are not using the right language that controllers are supposed to use,” Duffy said.
“What tools do I have to deploy to make sure we can keep the flying public safe? And this was the right decision,” Duffy explained.
Secretary Duffy explained that it was not a political decision, but that it was motivated by safety. He also said the decision was made by the FAA safety team.
“This decision to reduce capacity by 10 percent, it didn’t come from me, it didn’t come from the White House, it came from the safety team in the FAA,” Duffy said.
Watch:
Transportation’s @SecDuffy says he is “not going to have many tools left in my toolbox…it’s only going to get worse,” as the government shutdown continues to force flight cancelations. pic.twitter.com/AdnP8VOU5g
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) November 9, 2025
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