Alarm bells are ringing for lawmakers after some of the nation’s busiest airports experienced multiple delays over the weekend due to a shortage of air traffic control staff as the government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week.
Air-traffic controllers are among the federal employees deemed essential, forcing them to remain on the job without receiving pay.
Lawmakers are keeping a close eye on the weekend troubles and the growing possibility of being “sick in” by controllers, well aware that travel delays could be the issue that forces them to the negotiating table.
Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said, “It certainly won’t get better with age.” “The longer the shutdown goes on, the more people will be frustrated and we have people who are working without pay – they certainly won’t be any happier.”
“You’ll see many of them trying to find a way to express their frustration, even though they know there are real implications for calling in sick and slowing things down,” Rounds said. “And I understand.”
Unlike other parts of the federal workforce, air traffic controllers can play a role in ending the three-week-long shutdown — but it will come at a high cost. Travel delays are one of the effects of the shutdown felt most directly by average Americans, and the absence of fewer than a dozen controllers helped force the government to reopen in 2019 as it halted flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
“Air traffic controllers had a very powerful punch,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of those actions.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that a day earlier there had been “increased staffing shortages throughout the system,” causing delays at airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Newark, NJ.
According to FlightAware, 19,000 flights were delayed between Saturday and Monday, with Sunday hitting a high mark with nearly 8,000 delays. 1,600 flights were also canceled during that period.
Southwest Airlines saw delays to more than 30 percent of its flights on Sunday and Monday, with American Airlines seeing a similar figure on Sunday.
In total, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay this month.
“It’s definitely something I’m concerned about,” said Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who represents Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). This year has its own issues, even without the shutdown. “We’re already short-staffed, so this is something I’m massively concerned about. We see how devastating these disruptions can be on multiple fronts, which is why I’m disappointed.”
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged on Monday morning that more of these issues could come up the track.
“I’m hopeful that we won’t see any more disruption. But as it gets closer to pay day, I think you could see more of it through the airspace,” Duffy told Fox News.
This isn’t the first sign of trouble since the shutdown began. More than 23,000 delays were reported between 6 and 10 October, many of which were caused by air traffic controller outcry.
At the time, Duffy said that 53 percent of delays were due to staffing issues, compared to five percent normally.
Durbin told reporters on Monday that he inquired about the issues in recent days from TSA workers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) on his way back to Washington. He said he had reported “slow speeds” on Sunday, but the airport was back to “full capacity” on Monday.
These were not the only problems experienced by the airport in recent times. A pair of United Airlines planesclipped wingsFriday at O’Hare when one of them was taking a taxi to the gate to get off the plane.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is expected to hold a vote this week on a bill to pay “excluded” workers — those deemed essential during the shutdown. This also includes 13 lakh members of the army.
Thune told reporters that voting would take place on Wednesday or Thursday.
Federal employees also will not receive their first full pay on Friday, despite receiving partial pay at the beginning of the month.
While lawmakers are concerned about the continued delays and cancellations, there’s something even worse that they’re praying can be avoided amid the potential “illnesses.”
“If there were an accident – God forbid – that was linked to this problem, there would be a huge cost,” Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) told The Hill. “that’s for sure.”
