The Federal Aviation Administration might need to slow down air traffic during the busiest holiday travel times because of air traffic controller staffing shortages, particularly in the Northeast.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker says this is most likely to occur in the New York area, where the agency has not been able to keep up with demand for air traffic controllers.

“During the Thanksgiving travel period, we will use traffic flow management initiatives to deal with any staffing shortages on that particular day in this airspace, and we expect to have some of those shortages. So, we’re working diligently to make sure that that can operate as efficiently as possible,” Whitaker told reporters at a Thursday news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside of the capital.

Earlier this year, the agency moved responsibility for handling Newark area air traffic to its facility in Philadelphia.

“The has been meant to get us healthy on a staffing level,” Whitaker said, adding that since the move, there is now a “strong pipeline of 28 certified controller trainees who want to work in this airspace.”

FAA: We’re putting safety first

The FAA anticipates Tuesday, November 26, will be its busiest day for air traffic. Whitaker says the slow downs, if needed, will be put in place for safety reasons.

“These initiatives keep the system safe, and people should know that safety is never at risk. If we are short on staff, we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe,” he said.

In May, FAA figures showed the agency was still about 3,000 controllers short. In September, FAA announced that it had met its goal of more than 1,800 hires for the year but did not say how many controllers it would net after attrition and retirements.

Brace for record numbers in the sky

Airlines for America, a trade association group, said in a recent news release that “airlines will see record air travel this holiday season.”

The group predicts more than 31 million passengers will fly on US carriers over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, which would set a record high. That would be up from the nearly 29 million passengers who flew during the same time last year.

A4A said that it expects the busiest days to fly during the Thanksgiving travel period (November 22 through December 2), will be Wednesday, November 27, and Sunday, December 1 — with more than 3 million passengers expected on each day.

US carriers are preparing to fly an average of 2.8 million passengers per day – up 5% from last year – over the Thanksgiving holiday period, A4A said.