As the government shutdown enters its 13th day on Oct. 13, the lack of funding continues to cause shortages at air traffic control, impacting air travel nationwide.
Air traffic controllers, like their counterparts at the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), are considered “essential” workers and are required to report to their stations during government shutdowns, even without pay.
Here’s what you should know about how the shutdown is affecting American air travel, and whether travelers should be concerned.
Which Services Are Impacted?
Both the FAA and TSA are feeling effects from the government shutdown, two agencies critical for aviation safety.
“Despite this challenge, we will remain vigilant and focused on performing our vital security mission on behalf of the American people,” TSA said.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the media attention on impacted services has been applied to the FAA, and by extension, its tens of thousands of air traffic controllers who prevent collisions in the sky and on the tarmac.
“These air traffic controllers, they’re critical infrastructure,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a press conference on Oct. 6. “They’re critical to the operation of the federal government. So they’re required to show up for work.”
FAA Slowing Traffic to Ensure Safety
The added lapse of funding during the shutdown has only compounded the agency’s staffing shortages, the FAA said last week.
“When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations,” the agency said.
On Oct. 10, the FAA said it was experiencing staffing shortages at multiple airports, including Chicago, New York, Newark, San Diego, Dallas, Washington, and Phoenix.
By Monday, that tally also included Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco.
Flight tracking website FlightAware reported more than 800 delays and nearly 100 cancellations nationwide Monday afternoon, with Boston Logan International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport seeing the most impacts.
Controllers Calling in Sick, Adding to Delays
While air traffic controllers are currently working without pay, they will receive their last partial paycheck on Oct. 14 for work performed before the funding lapse.
That will be the last payment controllers receive unless the government shutdown ends first. They will, however, receive back pay after the shutdown.
Duffy said that air traffic controllers calling in sick and not showing up to work were significantly adding to the staffing shortages and air travel delays. He told Fox Business on Oct. 9 that prior to the shutdown, 5 percent of air travel delays were from controller staffing shortages, but that number had risen to 53 percent during the shutdown.
He called the 10 percent of air traffic controllers who are calling in sick “problem children” and said the Transportation Department might fire them when the government reopens.
“Listen, we need more controllers, but we need the best and the brightest, the dedicated controllers. And if we have some on our staff that aren’t dedicated like we need, we’re going to let them go,” Duffy said.
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union that represents controllers, said current staffing levels are consistent with some days before the shutdown.
“Here in Washington, D.C., they had staffing the other day that was reported in the media. It had been 62 times that they had been at that staffing, or even lower, beforehand,” he told MSNBC on Oct. 11.
He said many fearful controllers have texted him concerned about receiving their last partial paychecks, and how they’re considering driving Uber to feed their multi-child families.
Officials, Airlines Say It’s Still Safe to Fly
Despite the impacts on air traffic controller staffing, officials and airline representatives say flying is still safe for Americans.
“They are safe. … We will stop traffic if we can’t control the airspace safely, because that’s the No. 1 mission—flying on time is not the mission, safety is the mission,” Duffy said. “If you see delays, it’s because we don’t feel like we can navigate as many planes as are coming in or departing with the number of controllers that we have. So it slows down and you have delays.”
Airlines for America, the trade group representing American, United, Delta, Southwest, and other major carriers, said Friday that staffing shortages will lead to delays.
However, when asked if the air traffic controller staffing shortages would impact safety, Daniels said in the MSNBC interview, “It has to.”
“I would think what you’re going to see is an increase in risk in the system as this carries on,” the union president added.
