As the shutdown continues with no off-ramp in sight, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is warning that travel impacts are likely to get more severe.
"We will delay, we will cancel, any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe," he told ABC News over the weekend. "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."
So far, flight impacts as a result of the shutdown have been relatively minimal. Many of the delays since the shutdown started have been weather-related, although staffing shortages have triggered isolated delays at some airports as air traffic controllers slowed arrivals rates to keep their flight loads safe and manageable.
Still, as the shutdown continues, flight delays and cancelations could ramp up.
Air traffic controllers and many other Federal Aviation Administration employees are considered essential workers, so they're required to report for duty even though they're not earning paychecks during the government shutdown.
