Topline
Flight delays due to air traffic staffing shortages jumped over the weekend and are expected to escalate as controllers missed their first full paycheck Tuesday—with no end to the government shutdown in sight.
Key Facts
Air traffic controllers received their first “zero paychecks” on Tuesday, day 28 of the government shutdown.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic advisory issued at 3:27 p.m. EDT on Tuesday listed staffing triggers—indicating insufficient personnel—at four air traffic control facilities.
These included the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Area C, which manages arrivals and departures at Newark Liberty International Airport; the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport control tower; Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) Area 6, which controls the airspace over parts of Colorado and Wyoming; and the Phoenix TRACON, which manages inbound and outbound flights at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The FAA is also warning of possible ground stops or delays at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport after 5 p.m. EDT, and at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth and Dallas Love Field until 10 p.m. EDT.
As of 4 p.m. EDT, there were over 2,600 flight delays in the U.S., according to FlightAware.
“The problems are mounting daily,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said at a press conference at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday.
On Monday, more than 7,300 flights—roughly 16% of total flights for the day—were delayed, according to FlightAware, including more than 800 flights in and out of Atlanta.
On Sunday, more than 8,800 flights in U.S. airspace were delayed, with staffing shortages leading to a temporary ground stop at Los Angeles International Airport and significant flight delays at Newark and Dallas.
Saturday saw staffing triggers at 22 air traffic control facilities, the highest number since the shutdown began, which Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News was “a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.”
Have Air Traffic Controller Absences Ticked Up During The Shutdown?
The FAA has acknowledged a noticeable rise in staffing triggers as the shutdown has dragged on. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at the LaGuardia press conference Thursday that about 24% of Monday’s flight delays and 44% Sunday’s delays were due to air traffic controller staffing, compared with an average of about 5% before the shutdown began. On Saturday, there were staffing triggers at 22 facilities, which included a combination of TRACONs responsible for guiding planes in and out of airports, ARTCCs managing higher-altitude air traffic flow over a specific region, and airport air traffic control towers. In comparison, each of the three prior Saturdays saw a maximum of a dozen staffing triggers.
How Might The Shutdown Impact The Ongoing Air Traffic Controller Shortage?
During a weekend appearance on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” said the shutdown could slow the “hiring supercharge” he promised in February. The FAA is still “about 2000 controllers short,” Duffy told Fox News, noting that while air traffic control instructors at the FAA’s academy in Oklahoma City are unpaid during the shutdown, trainees receive a stipend—yet the stipends are slated to run out in a little over a week. “We could lose this tranche of air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “This has long term implications on our ability to make sure we don’t have the staffing shortages and our flights are on time and they’re not delayed, which I think frustrates so many darn Americans.”
Is It Safe To Fly During The Shutdown?
Aviation experts say flight delays are actually a sign that air traffic is being managed at a safe level. When the FAA has shortage of controllers at a specific facility, it can use programs like ground delays, where the flow of flights in and out of an airport is slowed to manageable level, and ground stops, where arrivals and departures are temporarily halted altogether. “If I don’t feel like I have enough controllers or enough controllers that are focused, we will slow down traffic. We will stop traffic. And that’s why you see the delays in the system,” Duffy told Fox News.
Further Reading
TSA Screeners Face First Missed Paycheck Friday—Expect Longer Airport Lines Starting This Weekend (Forbes)