Air traffic controllers helped end the last government shutdown, and may again

WASHINGTON — More than a month into the last government shutdown in 2019, a few air traffic controllers finally reached their breaking point.

There was only a "slight increase" in sick leave at two facilities in Virginia and Florida that handle high-altitude traffic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. But it was enough to throw some major East Coast airports into chaos.

With another shutdown underway, U.S. airlines are once again bracing for the possibility of delays and disruptions to commercial aviation.

"You have the reality of human beings, many of [whom] are living paycheck to paycheck," said Dennis Tajer, a longtime pilot for American Airlines, and a spokesman for the union that represents its 16,000 pilots. "It doesn't take long before the system slows down. The safety margin is always protected. But what happens is we meter the amount of aircraft that the system can hold."

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That's what happened on January 25th, 2019, when a shortage of air traffic controllers forced the FAA to limit traffic at LaGuardia Airport in New York, along with other major airports from Newark, N.J. to Orlando, Fla.

That same day, President Trump agreed to a temporary government funding measure, effectively ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history after 35 days. Exactly how much those disruptions to commercial aviation had to do with the funding deal remains open to interpretation, though some observers think it was an important factor.

Lawmakers in Washington appear far from an agreement to end the current government shutdown that began early Wednesday morning.

Unlike the prior shutdown, the Department of Transportation says it will keep the FAA's air traffic controller training academy open, part of a push to meet its ambitious hiring goals.

Still, the shutdown will hurt the nearly 14,000 current controllers who have to work through it, even though they won't get paid until it ends.

"It's an unnecessary distraction" on top of what is already "one of the most stressful jobs in the entire world," Nick Daniels, the president of National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a video message to members posted on Sunday.

"We have people that will have to decide, do I take a second job? Do I have to do Uber? Do I have to find some source of income during this time?," he said.

But Daniels urged controllers to be professional — and pleaded with them not to engage in any kind of coordinated job action, because that could prompt the Trump administration to try to decertify the union.

Passengers walk through security lines at Reagan National Airport on the first day of the U.S. government shut down in Arlington, Va. Efforts to bring a quick end to the shutdown stalled Wednesday.

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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

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AFP via Getty Images

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"Our professionalism and our credibility will be being looked at. And not only is your career at stake, but the right to have a union will be at stake during that time," Daniels said in a recent town hall meeting with members.

The union denies having any role in the slowdown of the nation's airspace in 2019. But as that incident demonstrated, even a small number of controllers calling in sick can have a big impact.

"It's a disaster for me," said one current air traffic controller who handles approaching and departing flights at a major U.S. airport. He asked NPR not to use his name because he's afraid of retaliation from the FAA.

"I work at the very top level of air traffic control as a profession, and I struggle financially," the controller said. "And missing a paycheck — I can probably miss one. But it will hurt badly."

The controller said morale in the workforce is lower than it was six years ago, as the staffing shortage has gotten worse, and pay has stagnated. And he thinks air traffic controllers will once again call in sick.

"It doesn't even have to be organized," the controller said. "I think that enough people will individually make the decision that they don't feel like going to work that this will not last a tremendous amount of time."
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