Transportation Secretary says government shutdown adds stress on air traffic controllers
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday that the closure of the government has put more stress on air traffic controllers, which has already a very stressful job, and threatened a program that small communities trusted to subsidize the airline service.
Dufy Duffy is expected to continue to work without salary, so they are worried about keeping flights safe as well as how they will pay their bills.
“Now what they think while checking our airspace, how do I pay the mortgage?
Duffy’s news conference organized the Newark Liberty International Airport travelers, controllers should be paid for work, he said.
“Everyone should get money because they do. Of course it bothers me,” Daniel Johansson from North Carolina said.
A traveler Nancy Taylor from Utah accepted.
Taylor, “Yes, it would be difficult to work without paying,” he said. “But I think they understand the importance of their business. And the security that provides us as a traveler. They need to get payment.”
The transport department was able to keep the Air Traffic Controller Academy in Oklahoma City with financing compared to previous years, but Duffy is concerned about the potential impact on the efforts to hire and train new controllers in the hope of eliminating a long -standing distress. Duffy said that after leaving the controllers from the academy, the support personnel who trained could be dismissed.
Nick Daniels, President of the Association of Air Traffic Controllers, stayed away from political interpretations, but urged the Congress to close.
Daniels, “Federal Aviation Administration and Stable Aviation Security professionals to put this distraction behind us and to focus completely on the life of life, we must end this closure,” he said.
Duffy said that there was a small increase in the controllers in several places. If the closure is dragged, it can be forced to reduce the number of take -offs and descents that will create FAA, delays and possibly cancellations.
The basic air service program, which subsidies the airline service to small communities throughout the country, will be free of charge. Duffy said the program has a strong two -party support and provides an important life line to many small communities. Alaska is the only way to travel among many communities, especially in Alaska.
“This money ends this Sunday. There are many small communities that will not have resources that will be sure that they have received air service in communities throughout the country, Du he said.
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Associated Press Video contributed to this report from Joseph Frederick, Newark, New Jersey.
