As the government shutdown hits the one-week mark, airports across the U.S. are starting to feel it. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reported staffing shortages in Chicago, Nashville, Denver, Boston, Newark and Philadelphia, among others, as well as at major air traffic control centers in Houston, Atlanta and Dallas.
For the uninitiated, both air traffic controllers and TSA personnel are government employees, which means they’re currently working without pay (and, notably, for 10 hours a day, six days a week). “I want them to think about the departures and arrivals of airplanes. I want to make sure they keep Americans and airplanes safe,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday. “But they’re not just thinking about the airspace — they’re thinking about: ‘Am I going to get a paycheck?’ ‘How am I going to pay my mortgage?’ ‘Do I have to take a second job and drive Uber?’”
Unsurprisingly, Duffy said there’s been a “slight tick-up” in callouts since the shutdown began, and the ripple effects are already showing. According to flight tracking site FlightAware, Tuesday saw 3,787 delays and 70 cancellations within, into or out of the U.S. As of this morning, another 1,014 delays and 27 cancellations are already expected today.
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This isn’t without precedent. The last government shutdown — which stretched 35 days from late 2018 to early 2019 — saw widespread callouts that led to shuttered security checkpoints along the East Coast and stalled air traffic training and hiring, per The New York Times.
According to the Department of Transportation’s contingency plan, more than 13,000 air traffic controllers will remain on the job, and hiring and training will continue, but over 11,000 FAA employees — roughly a quarter of the agency’s workforce — would be furloughed. It’s a worrying figure given the country’s long-standing shortage of air traffic controllers, a problem that predates the pandemic. Even “a slight tick-up” in callouts could put serious strain on operations, although Duffy emphasized that safety is not a concern at this time — at least not yet.
“If we have additional sick calls, we will reduce the flow consistent with a rate that’s safe for the American people,” he said.
Still, given that this all comes on the heels of several high-profile aviation incidents in recent months, you’d be forgiven for having a hard time taking much comfort in that reassurance.
All told, it’s worth remembering that air traffic controllers played a pivotal role in ending the 2019 shutdown. If conditions deteriorate enough this time around, history could well repeat itself. The question is: how bad does it have to get?
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