Another government closure? Here’s what we know now:
The federal government has been shut down again, but how does it differ from the past 20 years? Here’s what we know now:
On October 7, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily ordered a ground halt on flights heading to Nashville International Airport as government closures face air traffic shortages.
In the now-suspended recommendation, the FAA said the ground halt would be at least until 8pm local time, affecting flights to Nashville. The agency cited “staffing” as the cause of the ground halt.
Earlier on October 7, the FAA announced that Nashville’s air traffic control was facing a significant staffing shortage, with ground delays at the airport from 4pm to 11:59pm. All flights arriving to Nashville will take off later than expected, limiting the total number of flights entering Nashville airspace at any given time.
According to the latest FAA warning, the average delay at Nashville International Airport was over two hours, and the maximum listed delay was over three hours by 4pm on October 7th. The delay continued until 8pm.
The reason for the shortage of personnel is not immediately clear.
On October 6, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the shutdown of government agencies has put even more stress on air traffic controllers who are already overworked and understaffed. Duffy said that some air traffic control towers have been cut by up to 50% since the closure began, and that the number of poor controllers in some areas has been on the rise.
“If we don’t have a controller, we’re going to keep the airspace safe, so what we do is slow down traffic,” Duffy told Fox & Friends on FOX News show.
More than 3,400 US flights were delayed on October 7th, including 25% of Nashville flights, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. The bad weather has also affected airmails nationwide.
Contributor: Hadley Hitson, Nashville, Tennessee. Reuters
