An additional 2,300 U.S. flights were cancelled on Monday as President Donald Trump threatened to dock pay for air traffic controllers who called in sick during the government shutdown.
After Trump ripped absent aviation workers as unpatriotic, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association labour union hailed members working without pay as “unsung heroes” in a statement that called for Congress to immediately end the shutdown.
“Enough is enough,” the union said.
The back-and-forth highlights the mounting strain on the aviation industry as the record-breaking shutdown hit day 41, though a compromise bill advancing in Congress was raising hopes of a resolution this week.
The air traffic control system was already under strain prior to the shutdown due to understaffing, and is facing a surge in passengers with upcoming Thanksgiving holiday travel.
Besides Monday’s 2,300 cancellations, more than 8,700 flights involving U.S. airports were delayed, according to website FlightAware. And carriers have already scrapped 1,100 flights scheduled for Tuesday, the flight tracker reported.
The Trump administration last week ordered 10 per cent reductions in flights at dozens of airports, including some of the nation’s busiest, due to “staffing triggers.”
Trump took to social media on Monday to threaten that controllers who do not return to work “will be substantially ‘docked.’”
“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!!” he demanded on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said he was recommending a bonus of $10,000 to the “GREAT PATRIOTS” who did not take time off during the shutdown.
His statement was posted just as the air traffic controller union was concluding a press conference, timed to the second, consecutive zero-dollar paycheck for its members.
Union president Nick Daniels called an emerging deal in Congress a “right step in the right direction.”
“Air traffic controllers should not be the political pawn during a government shutdown,” said Daniels, who has spoken in increasingly dire terms since federal funding first lapsed on October 1.
A NATCA statement released later Monday, following Trump’s social media threat, said controllers “deserve our praise.”
AFP
