Air traffic controllers warn of 'tipping point' as US government shutdown drags on

For many travelers, the nation's airspace was a scary place to be on Halloween.

The Federal Aviation Administration was forced to delay flights across the U.S. because of staffing shortages at dozens of air traffic control facilities, making for one of the most difficult days to fly since the government shutdown began five weeks ago.

"What you're seeing is a lot of people who are truly having to call in sick to go earn money elsewhere," said one air traffic controller who works at a facility in the Midwest that handles high-altitude traffic. "I think you're also seeing people who are just calling in sick because they're fed up and they're like, 'well, I'm going to spend the holiday weekend with my kids for once.'"

The government shutdown is taking a growing toll on air traffic controllers who are required to work without pay. Staffing shortages led to major delays over the weekend, raising concerns about more widespread travel chaos as the shutdown continues.

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NPR interviewed four current air traffic controllers this week, who all asked not to use their names because they're afraid of retaliation from the FAA.

They said morale was already low, even before the government shutdown, due to a longstanding staffing shortage across the system. Mandatory overtime and stagnating wages were other factors dampening morale, which has gotten even worse now that controllers are not being paid at all.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has warned of "mass chaos," "mass flight delays" and even the closure of certain "parts of the airspace" if the government shutdown drags into next week.

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insists the U.S. air travel system is safe, and that the FAA will need to reroute and limit the number of planes in order to keep it that way.

"We will restrict the airspace when we feel it's not safe," Duffy said Tuesday, "if we don't have enough controllers to effectively and safely manage our skies."

Duffy warned that the FAA may be forced to do a lot of that next week if the shutdown isn't resolved and the controllers miss another paycheck.

"You will see mass chaos, you will see mass flight delays. You'll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don't have the air traffic controllers," Duffy said.

Some air traffic controllers say they've been able to get loans from their credit unions to cover their expenses for a few paychecks, while others have been forced to take on part-time jobs.

"I work with people that are working a second job at night and are just calling in sick in the morning when they can't go to the job that doesn't pay them because they're too tired," said one controller who handles approaching and departing traffic at a major U.S. airport.

The controller said they haven't taken on a second job yet, but now a colleague who is already moonlighting in private security.

"You know, I'm going to join that guy here next week if things don't pan out," the controller said, just so that they can pay the mortgage.

The longer the shutdown goes on, the more controllers may be forced to make these difficult decisions.

"I think we're reaching a tipping point," said the controller who works high-altitude traffic in the Midwest. "This is kind of about the point in the last shutdown where people just started getting fed up with it."

Federal workers, including Transportation Security Administration officers and air traffic controllers, lined up last week to receive food parcels at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey during the government shutdown.

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It was more than a month into the last government shutdown in 2018 and 2019 when a small number of air traffic controllers in a few key facilities called in sick. That caused major disruptions at airports up and down the East Coast, and arguably helped bring the shutdown to an end later that day.

The FAA is better at managing staffing shortages these days, several controllers said. One controller said more of their colleagues have called out sick during this shutdown than during the previous one, while the impacts on travel have been mostly isolated so far.

But controllers also say the shutdown is adding more risk to the system.

"It does degrade that margin of safety if a bunch of people are sick and not at work and I'm having to do their jobs along with my own," said the controller who handles traffic around a major airport.

Another controller who handles arriving and departing traffic at a major airport in the New York City-area says they were the only certified controller working during a recent night shift.

"It was on a bad weather day where there was a ton of confusion and coordinations necessary. Trainees who were around tried to be as helpful as they could," the controller said, but "it was a terrible situation to be stuck in."

"It's clear that the government only pays lip service to the value of our profession," this controller said. "Otherwise why would they jeopardize hundreds of thousands of people's lives every day this way?"

Legally, air traffic controllers are not allowed to strike or to coordinate their absences, as their union leaders have emphasized throughout the shutdown.

But controllers also know that the Thanksgiving holiday — one of the busiest travel periods of the year — is just a few weeks away. The high-altitude controller from the Midwest put it this way: "I think you're going to see probably the worst day of travel in the history of flight."
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