WASHINGTON: Air traffic control staffing issues are delaying travel at airports in New York, Washington, Newark and Houston, the Federal Aviation Administration said late on Thursday, as a US government shutdown hit its 23rd day.
The FAA was reporting staffing issues at 10 different locations and issued ground stops at Houston Bush and Newark airports. Flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were being delayed an average of 31 minutes and delays at New York LaGuardia were averaging 62 minutes.
Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay during the government shutdown.
FlightAware, a flight tracking site, said more than 4,200 US flights had been delayed Thursday, including more than 15 percent of flights at Reagan, Newark and LaGuardia and 13 percent at Bush.
Federal officials are worried that absences by controllers may increase over the weekend. Controllers will miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday.
“We fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions and cancelations in major airports across the country this holiday season,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Democrats reject the contention that they are responsible and say it is President Donald Trump and Republicans who refuse to negotiate.
Air traffic control has become a flashpoint in the debate over the shutdown with both parties blaming the other. Unions and airlines have urged a quick end to the standoff.
In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York and Washington, which put pressure on lawmakers to end that standoff.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
Air traffic control staffing crisis delay more flights as US government shutdown remains unresolved
https://arab.news/g8t9j
Air traffic control staffing crisis delay more flights as US government shutdown remains unresolved
- Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay during the government shutdown
- FAA is 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown
Guinea dissolves top opposition
- Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied
CONAKRY: Guinea has dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralization ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations.” The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Since coming to power in a 2021 coup, Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests.
Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied.
Included among the dissolved groups are Guinea’s three main political parties: the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea led by its exiled leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea, led by ex-president Alpha Conde, and the Union of Republican Forces.
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned,” the order said.
That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols” associated with the groups, it said.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or to what entity.
Civil society movements condemned the parties’ dissolution on Saturday, calling it a power grab.
Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defense of the Constitution said “the country is sinking into profound uncertainty.”
Two well-known FNDC activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 2024.
