All three of D.C.’s local airports — BWI Marshall, Reagan National and Dulles International — are on a list of airports that will see a reduction of flights starting Friday.
They are a part of a list of 40 airports selected across “high-volume markets” to reduce air traffic by 10%, the Federal Aviation Administration said as the government shutdown continues.
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Travel delays have been adding up as air traffic controllers have continued to work without pay during the shutdown. The FAA said the reduction will help maintain safety and avoid any major issues, including unstaffed air traffic control towers.
At a press conference Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there’s been an increase in air traffic controllers calling out sick since the shutdown started, leading to staffing shortages and delays. Duffy said they’re offering bonuses to air traffic controllers.
“What we’re finding is, our air traffic controllers, because of the financial pressures at home, are taking side jobs. … I do not want them to take side jobs, I want them to show up for work. We have asked them to show up for work. But I’m not naive to understand that they’re trying to figure out how they meet their daily obligations,” he said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a letter out to employees that the airline will be making rolling updates to its schedule in order to give travelers “several days’ advance notice” to changes.
He added that the airline’s “long-haul international flying and our hub-to-hub flying will not be impacted by this schedule reduction direction from the FAA,” and instead, they’ll be making the cuts to its domestic flights.
CBS News Senior Transportation Correspondent Kris Van Cleave joined WTOP anchors Anne Kramer and Shawn Anderson to discuss how this might affect the three major airports around the D.C. region.
Read or listen to the interview below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
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