Flight Delays Loom in Shutdown as Controllers Go Without Pay

Air traffic controllers missed their paychecks Tuesday because of the ongoing government shutdown, and that has Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the head of the controllers' union concerned that flight delays could multiply as increasingly stressed-out controllers call out sick.

Recent absences have led to a number of isolated delays across the country because the Federal Aviation Administration was already extremely short on controllers before the shutdown. The FAA restricts the number of flights landing and taking off at an airport anytime there is a shortage of controllers to ensure safety.

There's no way to predict when or where delays might happen because even a small number of absences can disrupt operations at times. Sometimes the delays are only 30 minutes, but some airports have reported delays of more than two hours — and some have even had to stop all flights temporarily.

So far, most of the delays have been isolated and temporary. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that typically about 20% of all flights are delayed more than 15 minutes for a variety of reasons.

The data Cirium tracks showed there has not been a dramatic increase in the total number of delays overall since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. Nearly 80% of the flights at a sample of 14 major airports nationwide have still been on time this month.

Although a two-hour-long staffing-related ground stop at Los Angeles International Airport made national news on Sunday, a major thunderstorm in Dallas that day had a larger impact on flights, when only about 44% were on time. Cirium said 72% of the flights out of LAX were still on time Sunday.

But Duffy and Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, have continued to emphasize the pressure that controllers are feeling. They said the problems are likely to only get worse the longer the shutdown continues.

"Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time," Daniels said Tuesday at a news conference alongside Duffy at LaGuardia Airport in New York. "And I'm watching air traffic controllers going to work. I'm getting the stories. They're worried about paying for medicine for their daughter. I got a message from a controller that said, 'I'm running out of money. And if she doesn't get the medicine she needs, she dies. That's the end.'"

Controllers gathered outside 20 airports nationwide Tuesday to hand out leaflets urging an end to the shutdown as soon as possible. Worrying about how to pay their bills is driving some to take second jobs to make ends meet.

The number of controllers calling in sick has increased during the shutdown because of their frustration with the situation and because they need the time off to work second jobs instead of continuing to work six days a week like many routinely do. Duffy has said that controllers could be fired if they abuse their sick time, but the vast majority have continued to show up for work every day.

Duffy said the shutdown is also making it harder for the government to reduce the longstanding shortage of about 3,000 controllers. He said that some students have dropped out of the air traffic controller academy in Oklahoma City, and younger controllers who are still training to do the job might abandon the career because they can't afford to go without pay.

"This shutdown is making it harder for me to accomplish those goals," Duffy said.