Transportation chief floats flight reductions of up to 20 percent if shutdown doesn't end

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday that flight reductions could go as high as 20 percent if the government shutdown drags on, as the Federal Aviation Administration begins reducing flights by 10 percent due to air traffic controller staffing shortages.

“If this continues, and I have more controllers who decide they can't come to work, can't control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job — with that, you might see 10 percent would have been a good number, because we might go to 15 percent or 20 percent,” Duffy said at a Breitbart News event in Washington, D.C. on Friday.

Duffy clarified to The Hill after the event that he was speaking theoretically.

“Could it go there? That’s possible. There’s no plan for that,” Duffy said. “I assess the data and how many contro