A startling message came over the radio from an air traffic control tower near Los Angeles less than a week into the federal government shutdown: “The tower is closed due to staffing.”
Without enough air traffic controllers to guide planes into and out of Hollywood Burbank Airport, the tower went dark for almost six hours on Oct. 6, leaving pilots to coordinate their movements among themselves. Flight delays averaged two-and-a-half hours in one of the first visible signs that the shutdown was already taking a toll on the nation’s aviation system.
Since the shutdown began Oct. 1, the Federal Aviation Administration has reported controller shortages in cities across the U.S., from airports in Boston and Philadelphia to control centers in Atlanta and Houston. Flight delays have spread to airports in Nashville, Dallas, Newark, and more.
Experts and union leaders say the disruptions are a stark reminder that the aviation system is already stretched too thin by chronic understaffing and outdated technology. They warn the cracks in the system could rapidly deepen the longer the shutdown drags on and critical aviation workers are without their regular paychecks.
“It’s like having a drought the year after you had a drought,” Greg Raiff, CEO of Elevate Aviation Group, told The Associated Press.
Problems have persisted for years. These concerns aren’t new. In 2019, the aviation system buckled under the weight of a 35-day government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history. Around the three-week mark, air traffic controllers, many of them working up to 60 hours a week, sued the government over their missed paychecks.
“Here we are so many years later, and the problems have not been addressed,” said aviation attorney Ricardo Martinez-Cid. “Now we’re in a worse position when we had been put on notice. We had the opportunity to address it.”
Before the latest shutdown, both the FAA and TSA were already dealing with staffing shortages. Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, has said staffing levels have reached a 'critical' point, the lowest in decades.
Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees chapter representing TSA workers, expressed concern that the shutdown could drive even more security screeners to leave the agency.
“We implore all involved, please heed not only our warnings but the entire stakeholder community’s warnings. This vicious budgetary cycle of stops and starts with little to no stability or predictability has simply got to stop,” said Nick Calio, CEO of Airlines for America.
And yet the system remains vulnerable to shutdowns, long overdue for a wake-up call.
