ATC union head says it’ll take weeks to recover

The head of the air traffic controllers’ union said Wednesday that it could take the industry “weeks to recover” from the impacts of the government shutdown.

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the holiday season will be especially affected by the shortage of air traffic controllers, who missed their first full paycheck last week. The Department of Transportation has reported increased delays and ground stops as a result of the shutdown, now in its fifth consecutive week.

“To somehow fathom we could go into the holiday season still in a government shutdown, I can’t even begin to predict what the impacts will be across this country,” Daniels said. “Three-hour TSA wait lines will be the least of our worries.”

Air traffic controllers and airport security screeners are among the employees required to work during the shutdown as essential employees, even though they’re not receiving regular paychecks. The shutdown, which entered its 36th full day on Wednesday, is now the longest in history.

Even if the shutdown ended today, Daniels added, the impacts could take much longer to be seen among air traffic controllers and could pose challenges for the industry at large.

“We’ve been in this shutdown for so long at this point, I don’t think we’ll actually see the damage until well after the shutdown ends, seeing air traffic controllers resign from this career and profession,” he said. “Even if they open the government today, we won’t see the pay that we deserve, that we’ve rightfully earned for over two to two and a half months.”

Daniels said there are already 300 to 400 fewer air traffic controllers today than in 2019, when the government was shut down for 35 days. That shutdown ended after air traffic controller shortages led to severe disruptions at U.S. airports.

“We’ll do everything we can and be the professionals that show up and try to move the aircraft across the airspace — at the same time, we can’t make the impossible possible if it’s just going to be putting us in an impossible situation,” Daniels said.

Earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on “Squawk Box” that he may “shut the whole airspace down” if the shutdown continues to stretch on. The industry is currently 2,000 to 3,000 controllers short of its ideal staffing goal, he added.

“We won’t let people travel, [but] we’re not there at this point. It’s just significant delays,” Duffy said.