Dept. of Transportation could close some airspace next week amid shutdown, Duffy warns

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FILE-An Alaska Airways airplane takes off close to the air site visitors management tower at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport on October 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Picture by Mario Tama/Getty Photos)

As the federal government shutdown enters a document thirty sixth day on Wednesday, Transport Minister Sean Duffy is warning the company could also be compelled to shut a part of the nationwide airspace to air site visitors from subsequent week.

Duffy advised reporters on Tuesday that the scenario at airports may worsen, with no signal of the shutdown ending anytime quickly, as some Federal Aviation Administration employees have already missed one paycheck final week, with their subsequent pay interval set for Nov. 11.

RELATED: Trump blames the shutdown on the overwhelming victory in the Democratic elections

Duffy tackles airspace restrictions

What they are saying:

Duffy spoke to reporters at a information convention on Tuesday and defined the outcomes if the Division of Transportation is compelled to shut some airspace.

“Lots of the auditors stated, ‘Many people can survive lacking one paycheck. Not all of us, however many people can. None of us can survive lacking two paychecks,'” Duffy stated.

RELATED: The 2025 government shutdown will be the longest in US history

He added: “In case you take us to per week from right this moment, Democrats, you are going to see huge chaos, huge flight delays. You are going to see huge cancellations, and you might even see us closing sure components of the airspace as a result of we simply cannot deal with it. We’ll limit the airspace if we really feel prefer it’s unsafe,” the Related Press reported.

RELATED: As the government shutdown continues, flight delays could increase rapidly

The US Journey Affiliation wrote this this week a letter to congressional leaders explaining how the U.S. financial system has already misplaced greater than $4 billion throughout the federal government shutdown, and the affiliation is worried that issues may worsen if the shutdown spills over into the vacation journey season.

Flight delays throughout shutdown

Dig deeper:

In keeping with the flight monitoring web site, greater than 1,000 flight delays inside, to or from the US have been delayed since Wednesday, with 90 flights canceled. FlightAware.com.

Flight delays at airports throughout the nation outcome from the Federal Aviation Administration briefly slowing or stopping site visitors when there’s a scarcity of air site visitors controllers.