U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said airlines were only days away from grounding their fleets ahead of Thanksgiving before the record-long government shutdown ended in mid-November. With air traffic controller staffing now returning to more normal levels, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing for what it expects to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in 15 years.
The recent government shutdown, which began on October 1 and ended on November 12 when President Donald Trump signed a funding bill passed by both chambers of Congress, was the longest such shutdown in U.S. history, according to The Daily Wire.
Speaking at the Secretary’s Cup event at Fenway Park in Boston, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described how close the aviation system came to a breaking point. “We were not going to get to Thanksgiving,” he told The Daily Wire. “Had the shutdown not ended, we were not going to get to Thanksgiving. Would have been not just mass chaos, I think we would have seen airlines actually ground their fleets.”
Duffy said the situation was deteriorating rapidly as air traffic controller staffing thinned. “It was getting bad fast,” he said. He added that controllers have since “come back online,” bringing staffing near pre-shutdown levels. According to his comments, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are now analyzing safety data to ensure key metrics are moving “in the right direction towards safety,” and, once satisfied, plan to allow the number of flights to increase again.
Senior administration officials had spent weeks warning of serious travel turmoil if the shutdown persisted. Vice President JD Vance, in particular, cautioned that Thanksgiving travel could become a “disaster” if lawmakers did not resolve the funding impasse, The Daily Wire has reported.
With the shutdown now over, the FAA expects this Thanksgiving travel season to be the busiest in 15 years, according to projections cited by The Daily Wire. The agency forecast that Tuesday of Thanksgiving week would be the peak day for air travel, with more than 52,000 flights scheduled.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford praised aviation workers’ efforts in a statement reported by The Daily Wire: “Thanks to the dedication of our air traffic controllers and every FAA employee, we are ready for the holiday rush and take pride in helping travelers reach their friends and families during this important time of year. I am deeply grateful to our entire FAA team. Even through a period of record-high traffic, their unwavering commitment keeps the system running safely.”
To help maintain safety and smooth operations, the FAA urged passengers to “be patient, be kind and follow crew member instructions,” according to the agency’s guidance quoted in The Daily Wire report.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) projects that almost 82 million Americans will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, an increase of about 1.6 million travelers from last year and a new overall record, the Daily Wire article noted.
Duffy has also used the moment to call for greater civility in air travel, including how passengers present themselves. “People dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly,” he said in an earlier Fox News appearance, as cited by The Daily Wire. “We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up.” A Transportation Department video referenced in the report contrasts past images of passengers in suits and dresses with modern travelers in pajamas and sweatpants.
“Things aren’t what they used to be,” Duffy said. “Let’s bring civility and manners back.”
