US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned that airspace could be closed across parts of the United States by 11 November 2025 due to disruptions and safety threats caused by the federal government shutdown. The issues stem from air traffic controller shortages that have already quadrupled the number of safety alerts across US skies year-on-year.
Air traffic staff are deemed essential workers and are supposed to continue doing their jobs without pay in the event of a government shutdown. But the financial reality for many staff, described recently by Duffy, is that they cannot meet their household commitments when they do not receive a salary, meaning they call in sick and undertake other paid work to make ends meet. This creates air traffic staff shortages that trigger safety alerts, delaying flights and causing cancellations as those on duty are forced to slow down schedules in order to cope.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says to ensure safety, his department will “slow traffic down” when it comes to the strain on air travel, as the government shutdown stretches on.
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 2, 2025
“You'll see delays. We’ll have flights canceled to make sure the system is safe,” Duffy tells… pic.twitter.com/qnHaYeK3zx
During a press conference on 4 November, Duffy told reporters the country “will see mass chaos” if the budget standoff continues for one more week. “You will see mass flight delays. 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.”
Duffy confirmed this approach, speaking to ABC, saying his department would not hesitate to disrupt “any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe.”
@therealdgomes27 Thoughts and prayers for those without TSA precheck #governmentshutdown #tsa #IAH #Houston #travelnightmare ♬ nothing beats a jet2 holiday – A7-BBH | MAN
Even though shutdowns have occurred before, government staff shortages are particularly acute this time after President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slashed thousands of jobs earlier in the year. Republicans are blaming Democrats for the budget impasse, even though Republicans control both houses and could, as Trump has suggested multiple times, use their majority to end the need for a 60-vote threshold, thus passing their budget bill. Polling by the Washington Post shows 45% of US voters blame Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown.
The year since Trump’s inauguration has been a bad one for travel, with a well-documented “Trump Slump” affecting numbers of incoming tourists to the US as huge markets such as Canada have chosen to vacation elsewhere in the wake of Trump’s tariff imposition and his comments about annexing the US’s northern neighbour.
The US Travel Association has already signalled 140,000 jobs could be on the line as a result of tourism’s decline amid losses of €4 billion. The association and nearly 500 other tourism stakeholders have now flagged the risks to the industry as the calendar approaches Thanksgiving – traditionally the busiest season for the sector. In an open letter, they warned of “immediate, deeply felt” consequences of a continued shutdown that will be “economically devastating to communities in every state.”
