‘We Just Cannot Manage’: Duffy Warns Shutdown Will Force Airspace Closures

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Tuesday that “mass chaos” and potential airspace shutdowns will affect air travelers if the government shutdown continues into next week, with shortages of air traffic controllers and TSA agents reaching a critical level.

“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos, you will see mass flight delays,” Duffy told reporters at a Tuesday news conference held by Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick (R) and Sen. John Fetterman (D), one of only three Democrats who have repeatedly voted to end the shutdown.

BREAKING: The Department of Transportation might be forced to shut down airspace in certain parts of the country if the government shutdown continues into next week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday.

Read more: https://t.co/8OnWWD1VUl pic.twitter.com/dHrYJVreDQ

— ABC News (@ABC) November 4, 2025

“You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”

Nearly 50% of major air traffic control facilities across the country already face critical staffing shortages as the shutdown extends into its 35th day, with approximately 13,000 controllers currently required to work without paychecks during the shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported on Friday that 80% of aviation staff in the New York area had called out, a problem Duffy only expects to worsen as the shutdown continues.

“If this shutdown doesn’t end now, air traffic controllers will receive another $0 paycheck,” Duffy wrote Monday on X. “Many controllers are not coming to work because they have to find a job that WILL pay them so they can survive.”

Yesterday saw another horrible record set: 84% of delays were due to staff shortages.

If this shutdown doesn’t end now, air traffic controllers will receive another $0 paycheck.

Many controllers are not coming to work because they have to find a job that WILL pay them so they… pic.twitter.com/PHK4gwaPzt

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 3, 2025

Delays and disruptions have already impacted airports in the Los Angeles area, Newark, and Denver over the past month, with Duffy stating that staffing shortages were the cause of 84% of the delays over the weekend.

The staffing shortages have led to many controllers working overtime or covering roles that other controllers would otherwise fill, in addition to their own.

“There is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that’s doing two jobs instead of one,” Duffy warned on Saturday amid a ground stop that was in effect at Newark Liberty International Airport due to staffing issues. “We will delay, we will cancel any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe.”

The shutdown shows no sign of resolution in the near future, as nearly every Senate Democrat has voted 14 times against a stopgap measure that would fund the government until November 21, using it as leverage to force concessions from Republicans to extend Obamacare subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.

The Obamacare tax credits were expanded under former President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the New York Post.

In an interview with The Daily Wire on Monday, Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman said he didn’t buy his party’s justification for the shutdown.

“I think shutting our government down simply because we have to ‘fight,’ or because that’s part of this resistance, I don’t agree with it,” the senator said. “And I think we’re gonna hurt the kinds of people who are at the center of our party.”