Memphis among 40 US airports where air traffic will be cut by 10%

The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that Memphis International Airport (MEM) is one of 40 “high-volume” airports where air traffic will be reduced by 10% over the coming days. A 4% cut at this airports starts today. Cuts will then increase incrementally until a 10% cut goes into effect next Friday, November 14. See a full list of affected airports here.

When the full 10% cut is implemented, it will cut about 1,800 flights and 268,000 airline seats per day nationwide. If the shutdown continues, it will make Thanksgiving travel even more difficult and expensive than usual at the end of this month.

Safety concerns

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the cuts are necessary due to increasing stress on flight safety workers due to the government shutdown. Since October 1, air traffic controllers and TSA workers have been working without pay. This has increased staff shortages in an already understaffed system. Many workers are unable to come to work because they can’t afford gas or childcare, or because they’re having to take second jobs to make ends meet. Many of those still on the job are having to work mandatory overtime, leading to fatigue and frustration.

Duffy said there are indications that air safety may already be suffering. “We’ve had more complaints from pilots that have said, well, the controller is less responsive to me, or controllers seem to be more stressed,” Duffy said. “The numbers are going in the wrong direction”.

The day before Duffy was sworn into his post, a regional jet collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, DC, killing 64 people. In that incident, an ATC worker who should only have been monitoring one lane of air traffic was instead monitoring two. Duffy has since pushed to recruit more ATC workers to make up a longstanding shortage of about 3,000 workers nationwide. Those training and recruiting efforts have been halted by the shutdown.

Poll: 74% Americans support extending Obamacare subsidies demanded by Democrats in government shutdown.