As the U.S. government shutdown enters its record 36th day, air traffic controllers, who must work without pay, are feeling the strain.
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
For many travelers, the country’s airspace was a scary place on Halloween.
The Federal Aviation Administration was forced to delay flights across the United States due to staffing shortages at dozens of air traffic control facilities, making it one of the toughest days to fly since the government shutdown began five weeks ago.
“What you’re seeing is a lot of people are having to call in sick to go make money somewhere else,” said an air traffic controller who works at a Midwest facility that handles high-altitude traffic. “I think you also see people who are just calling because they’ve had enough and are like, ‘Well, I’m going to spend the holiday weekend with my kids for once.'”
The government shutdown is taking an increasing toll on air traffic controllers who have to work without pay. Understaffing led to significant delays over the weekend, sparking concerns about more widespread travel chaos as the shutdown continues.
NPR interviewed four current air traffic controllers this week, all of whom asked that their names not be used because they feared retaliation from the FAA.
They said morale was already low, even before the government shutdown, due to a long-standing staff shortage across the system. Mandatory overtime and stagnant wages are other factors hurting morale, which has deteriorated further now that controllers are no longer paid at all.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned of “massive chaos”, “massive flight delays” and even the closure of some “portions of airspace” if the government shutdown extends into next week.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insists the U.S. air transportation system is safe and the FAA will have to reroute and limit the number of planes to keep it that way.
“We will restrict airspace when we believe it is unsafe,” Duffy said Tuesday, “if we do not have enough controllers to manage our skies effectively and safely.”
Duffy warned that the FAA could be forced to do much of that next week if the shutdown isn’t resolved and controllers miss another paycheck.
“You’ll see massive chaos, you’ll see massive flight delays. You’ll see massive cancellations, and you might see us close parts of the airspace, because we just can’t handle it because we don’t have air traffic controllers,” Duffy said.
Some air traffic controllers say they were able to get loans from their credit unions to cover expenses for a few paychecks, while others were forced to take part-time jobs.
“I work with people who work second jobs at night and call in sick in the morning when they can’t get to the job that doesn’t pay them, because they’re too tired,” said a controller who manages traffic on approach and departure from a major U.S. airport.
The controller said he had not yet accepted a second job but knew a colleague who was already moonlighting in private security.
“You know, I’m going to join this guy here next week if things don’t go well,” the comptroller said, just so they can pay the mortgage.
The longer the shutdown lasts, the more likely controllers will be forced to make these difficult decisions.
“I think we’re reaching a tipping point,” said the controller who works on high-altitude traffic in the Midwest. “It was around the time of the last shutdown that people started to get fed up.”
Federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration agents and air traffic controllers, waited in line last week to receive food packages at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey during the government shutdown. Participants each received a non-perishable produce box, a 10-pound premium produce box, as well as potatoes, spaghetti squash and apples.
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More than a month had passed since the last government shutdown in 2018 and 2019, when a small number of air traffic controllers at a few key installations called in sick. This caused major disruptions at East Coast airports and arguably helped end the shutdown later in the day.
The FAA is handling staffing shortages better these days, several controllers said. One monitor said more colleagues had called in sick during this shutdown than during the previous one, while impacts on travel have been mostly isolated so far.
But controllers also say the shutdown adds even more risk to the system.
“It degrades that safety margin if a bunch of people are sick and not working and I have to do their jobs at the same time as mine,” said the controller who manages traffic around a major airport.
Another controller who manages arriving and departing traffic at a major New York-area airport says he was the only certified controller working a recent night shift.
“It was a bad weather day where there was a lot of confusion and coordination needed. The trainees who were present tried to be as helpful as they could,” the controller said, but “it was a terrible situation to be stuck in.”
“It is clear that the government only praises the value of our profession,” said this controller. “Otherwise, why would they endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day?”
Legally, air traffic controllers are not allowed to strike or coordinate their absences, as their union leaders have emphasized throughout the shutdown.
But screeners also know that the Thanksgiving holiday — one of the busiest travel times of the year — is just weeks away. The Midwest high-altitude controller put it this way: “I think you’re probably going to have the worst travel day in the history of flying.”
