Duffy: Air travel will slow to a "trickle" before Thanksgiving
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Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) on Oct. 24, 2025. Photo: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that a "substantial" number of Americans may not be able to spend Thanksgiving with family as the record-breaking government shutdown mires air travel.
The big picture: Under the strain of missed paychecks, air traffic controllers have increasingly been absent from their critical posts just weeks before the Thanksgiving travel rush.
- The FAA announced a 4% "reduction in operations" that took effect Friday, escalating to 6% by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday and 10% by next Friday. Those reductions hit a total of 40 airports across the U.S.
Driving the news: "The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you're going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle," Duffy said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
- Duffy told CNN's Jake Tapper that 18 of 22 controllers in Atlanta didn't show up on Saturday and that there were 81 staffing triggers nationwide. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world's busiest.
- He added that retirements have spiked: "I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown. I'm now up to 15 to 20 a day."
By the numbers: As of Sunday morning at 11:30am ET, there have already been more than 4,800 delays and cancellations within, into or out of the U.S., according to tracker FlightAware. On Saturday, there were close to 9,000.
- Newark Liberty International Airport is again under a ground delay program Sunday due to staffing shortages with an average delay of three hours and 45 minutes as of 8:54am ET, per an FAA advisory.
What they're saying: White House spokesperson Kush Desai pinned the slowdown on "Democrats who shut the federal government down" in a statement to Axios.
Friction point: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed the unusual measure to cut flights as "politics masquerading as safety."
- "Instead of negotiating with Democrats to help families, they're punishing travelers," he said on the Senate floor.
- Duffy on Sunday responded, saying that "the only one playing politics is Chuck Schumer."
Worth noting: One air traffic controller, who spoke to Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick anonymously for fear of employer retribution, said the 10% cuts won't make a major difference from their perspective and that "it feels more like a political move to get the public to feel more impacted" by the shutdown.
What we're watching: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that he hopes the government will reopen before Thanksgiving but put the onus on President Trump.
- "Donald Trump needs to get off the golf course and get back to the negotiating table," Jeffries said. "He spent more time golfing over the last several weeks than he has talking to Democrats who represent half the country as part of an effort to find a bipartisan path forward."
Between the lines: Republican pundits Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, and Sarah Isgur, a former senior DOJ official, predicted on ABC's "This Week" that if the government shutdown drags into Thanksgiving travel, Republicans will feel the political pain.
- "I still think that the shutdown has predominantly hurt both parties equally," Christie said Sunday. "I think it has started now with this FAA business, to edge more towards hurting the Republicans more."
- Isgur concurred: "This will be on the Republicans if people can't eat their turkey."
Go deeper: What to do if the FAA cuts or cancels your flight
