Transportation Secretary Issues Ominous Warning to All Travelers

As the government shutdown stretches into its second month, the airline industry is feeling the mounting pressure. With air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers still working without pay, staffing shortages have begun to trigger widespread delays and flight cancellations, and it sounds like things could get even worse.

During a recent interview, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered a pretty ominous warning to travelers about what could be to come if the government shutdown lasts any longer.

Staffing Shortages Cause Problems

TSA officers and air traffic controllers continue to go without paychecks amid the government shutdown, leading to an increasing number of staffing shortages across the country.

“Just yesterday, we had 22 staffing triggers. That’s one of the highest that we’ve seen in the system since the shutdown began,” Duffy told Fox News Digital last week. “And that’s a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.”

Duffy said that in order to keep everyone safe, these staffing shortages will lead to delays and cancellations if necessary.

“My job is to keep the airspace safe. And so, if I don’t feel like I have enough controllers or enough controllers that are focused, we will slow down traffic, we will stop traffic,” he said.

Duffy Issues an Ominous Warning

During a recent interview with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Duffy reiterated his warning that the department will be forced to slow or delay air traffic as a result of the staffing shortages.

"We will delay, we will cancel, any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe," Duffy said via ABC News.

"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," he added.

He also had a pretty ominous warning for all travelers as he made it clear that if the government shutdown doesn't end soon, things could get even worse.

"If the government doesn't open in the next week or two, we'll look back as these were the good days, not the bad days," Duffy warned.

Clearly, the industry is facing a bit of a crisis.