The US government is currently shutdown, impacting a wide range of essential industries and systems within the nation. Air travelers throughout America are now feeling parts of the shutdown as airports have been experiencing major delays and staffing issues in air traffic control.
The US government being shutdown has begun impacting air travel throughout the nation. Air traffic controller staffing issues have caused delays in major airports, and pilots are struggling to deal with the ongoing changes.
Controllers are considered to be essential workers, meaning they have to work during the shutdown, however, they’re not being paid.
According to CNN, twelve Federal Aviation Administration facilities have experienced staffing shortages as of Monday night. The public FAA operations plan reported that control towers in Burbank, Phoenix, and Denver have “staffing triggers.” Airports in Newark, New Jersey; Jacksonville, Florida; Chicago, Washington, DC, and Indianapolis were also short staffed.
Burbank airport specifically had their control tower entirely shut down around 4:15 pm Monday afternoon. While flights were still able to take off and land, they had to utilize procedures that are typically only used at small airports that don’t have control towers.
Both Denver International and Newark Liberty International airports experienced ground delays where flights were prohibited from taking off until controllers could handle them, CNN reported.
In a news conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that the number of controllers calling out sick increased since the shutdown began.
“So now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace, is, ‘How am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment?’ Do I think they’re more stressed right now in our towers? Yes. Is our airspace unsafe? No.”
Duffy said that throughout this shutdown, the government will do what is necessary to keep airports safe.
“If we have additional sick calls, we will reduce the flow consistent with a rate that’s safe for the American people,” he said.
When the government shutdown for 35 days in December 2018, it ended after 10 air traffic controllers stayed home, which greatly impacted air traffic. Delays and TSA agents calling out sick caused major backups at security, which is what truly accelerated the ending of the shutdown in January 2019.
Federal law prohibits any organized job actions like strikes, however, with air traffic control staffing being so impacted with even just a small number of employees taking time off, major problems could occur.
“If someone has to take sick leave to drive Uber to make the difference, those are decisions they’re going to make themselves,” Duffy said.
“I don’t want them finding a second job to pay them, a job to pay the bills. I want them to get paid for the work they’re doing today, keeping our planes in the air.”
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union that represents controllers, released a statement in which they said the problems that exist now amidst the shutdown actually are emphasizing a decades-long staffing shortage.
“It is normal for a few air traffic controllers to … call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals,” NATCA said in the statement.
“Nearly 11,000 fully certified controllers remain on the job, many working 10-hour shifts as many as six days a week, showing extraordinary dedication to safely guiding millions of passengers to their destinations–all without getting paid during this shutdown.”
In addition to the shortages, the ending of subsidies for flights to smaller cities is also greatly impacting US travelers.
The Department of Transportation announced on Monday that the Essential Air Service, which provides funding for airlines to fly to smaller cities, will be expiring on Sunday.
The Essential Air Service program was initially created to ensure smaller more rural communities are serviced by air carriers. The transportation department stated that they have “exhausted every resource” to prolong this expiration.
“The number one user of this air space is Alaska,” Duffy said according to CNN.
“You don’t have roads in Alaska. They travel by air, and a lot of these are small communities. Alaska will be impacted, but every state across the country will be impacted by the inability to provide the subsidies to airlines to service these communities.”
Several of these smaller community airlines are intending to continue to operate flights in the immediate future, however, if the shutdown persists they’ll face difficulties.
“We are working with each community and evaluating our capabilities in the event of a longer-term government shutdown,” Skywest Airlines, which is one of the largest EAS operators, said in a statement.
“It is our intent to honor our service commitments, including those under the Federal EAS program.”
“Support from the Essential Air Service program is necessary to maintain this vital community service,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.
“Despite this potential uncertainty, Alaska Airlines currently plans to continue operating reliable flights as scheduled while the federal government works to resolve the shutdown.”
A 2023 report from an independent panel of aviation safety experts found that in the event of a government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to perform their “safety critical mission” is completely undermined by the government.
“This stop-and-start process in Congress has resulted in the disruption of critical activities, notably including the hiring and training of air traffic controllers,” the report published.
“It has also slowed down the implementation of key technology modernization programs, delayed thousands of flights, and held up billions of dollars of airport infrastructure investments. This situation makes it extremely difficult for the FAA to effectively conduct long-term business planning and execution.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
