Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced late Sunday that regular flight services should be able to resume in time for the Thanksgiving travel period following the recent Democratic government shutdown.
Duffy shared a Bloomberg report indicating that airlines could return to typical operations starting Monday, concluding what has become the longest Democratic shutdown in U.S. history.
“@FAANews has decided that normal operations can begin again after several days of deploying air traffic controllers in the towers,” Duffy stated.
He also mentioned, “Now we can shift our focus back to hiring and developing the advanced air traffic control system that the American people deserve.”
His comments came after he recently described Thursday as “one of the best days” for air traffic in a long time.
“We’re analyzing the data we’ve received and are working diligently to restore our airspace to normal conditions. You can thank the six House Democrats for reopening the government!” Duffy remarked.
This announcement followed President Trump’s signing of a bill last week, which officially reopened the government after a 43-day standoff initiated by the Democrats.
“For 43 days, Congressional Democrats have shut down the U.S. government seeking to extract hundreds of billions from American taxpayers in favor of illegal immigrants,” President Trump emphasized, while Democrats were pushing for significant new spending proposals totaling around $1.5 trillion.
Travel conditions could have worsened significantly just before the holiday season if Democrats and Republicans hadn’t cooperated to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR). During an event on November 7 with Breitbart News, Duffy pointed out that reductions in air traffic controller flights had intensified, causing additional safety concerns.
“Consequently, we’ve faced immense pressure on our air traffic control systems, leading to increased delays and cancellations throughout the month,” Duffy noted.
“We continually work to manage risks. Nothing is entirely safe. A car isn’t safe. Even walking down the street involves some risk. There’s a degree of risk in everything we do. My goal is to minimize that risk amidst this government shutdown and restore operations to pre-shutdown levels,” he elaborated.
To add some perspective, flight operations were anticipated to be cut back by as much as 10%.
