Air traffic control shortages add to U.S. flight delays

A shortage of air traffic controllers could delay more flights, the Federal Aviation Administration warned on Wednesday, as concerns grow about the effect of the government shutdown on U.S. aviation.

About 10,000 flights were delayed on Monday and Tuesday, though disruptions dropped on Wednesday to just more than 1,900. A shortfall of already-thin air traffic control staffing this week had prompted the FAA to slow or halt arrivals in Burbank, California, and Nashville, Tennessee, among others.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Monday that the FAA is seeing a “slight uptick” in sick calls of air traffic controllers.

The shutdown is exacerbating concerns about the strain on air traffic controllers, a shortage of whom has vexed airline executives for years. 

“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,” the air traffic controllers’ union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the FAA had warned there could see a staffing trigger at Newark Liberty International Airport, but that caution had been removed by the afternoon. Newark was not seeing an influx of flight delays.

The government shutdown stretched into its eighth day Wednesday, as the Senate failed to pass a funding proposal again.

During a shutdown, “essential” workers such as air traffic controllers and TSA agents are continuing to work without pay, while many other employees are placed on furlough.

A more than monthlong shutdown that started in late 2018 ended early the next year, hours after a shortage of air traffic controllers snarled air travel in New York.