For 13,000 air traffic controllers, Tuesday was the first day when they missed a full paycheck because of the government shutdown, which is now nearly a month long.
Meanwhile, thousands of other employees in the Federal Aviation Administration are also working without pay, including technicians who maintain, certify and repair equipment, according to a union that represents those employees.
It’s also just one week from exceeding the longest shutdown in government history, which occurred in late 2018 and into early 2019.
While the planes continue to fly, airlines, safety experts, government officials and passengers believe delays are going to worsen as more controllers opt to call in sick, instead of working.
At Reagan National Airport, Claire Murray was traveling to Wilmington, North Carolina, and said she has a blunt message to Congress and the White House.
“These people need to be paid. They need time off, and yes, I was really worried because I planned my trip a year ago,” Murray said. Her flights were delayed numerous times because of air traffic control-related delays.
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, as well as the union representing the controllers, said they are becoming increasingly concerned that the number of flight delays will increase as more controllers call in sick; and there are not enough controllers to operate the control towers, radar facilities and other equipment that is critical to keeping planes separate and passengers safe.
Duffy and Daniels 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 at LaGuardia Airport in New York. “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.”
“You’ve heard the stories of controllers working at Uber or DoorDash or a controller who might go to a food bank to help make ends meet,” Duffy said standing alongside Daniels.
Duffy shared about one of the stories he heard Monday from a controller who isn’t being paid.
“I had a controller who talked to me about his 10-year-old daughter who made the travel volleyball team,” Duffy said. “But with that, comes a cost. … And he had to talk to his daughter about not being able to join that team because he had to preserve his money, because he thought this day would come.”
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.
D.C.-based aviation safety analyst Jeff Guzzetti told WTOP that as the shutdown drags, things are “likely to get worse.”
“These sickouts are going to cause slowdowns in the system. There may even be airports that would have to completely shut down,” he added. “From a safety standpoint, I’m not that concerned. But from a delay and cancellation and massive inconvenience standpoint, I’m very concerned.”
During President Donald Trump’s first administration, a 35-day government shutdown in late 2018 was ended, in part due to pressure when flight delays and disruptions became overwhelming. Passengers at Reagan Airport said if that’s what it takes to end this stalemate, they’re OK with that.
At Reagan, traveler Anne Edwards was going to New York with her husband Gus.
“When you’re flying around and you realize there is less staff directing the plane’s takeoffs and landings, it’s a concern,” she said.
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.
“The shutdown is making it more difficult for me to accomplish those goals,” Duffy said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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