Air traffic controllers across the US received their first zeroed-out paycheck Tuesday because of the protracted government shutdown — and staffing shortages are causing airport delays to pile up ahead of the busy holiday season.
With the shutdown entering its second month, federal workers are scrambling to make ends meet. Air traffic controllers in particular are feeling the bite, coping with grueling six-day workweeks, mandatory overtime and chronic understaffing — all while working without pay.
“The system is already short-staffed, shutdown or no shutdown, and has been for a very long time,” Ian Petchenik, communications director for real-time flight-tracking website Flightradar24 told The Post.
“Even at full staff, it’s a very stressful job. Then there’s a government shutdown where you aren’t being paid anymore. This sets the backdrop for an increase over time of air traffic controllers calling out and saying look, I’m not getting paid, so maybe a six-day week and mandatory overtime right now isn’t something I can do.”
Staffing shortfalls have begun ticking up at major US airports, the Federal Aviation Administration is already warning of shortages at airports serving Denver, Philadelphia and much of the western US.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Tuesday that 44% of Sunday’s flight delays, and around 24% on Monday, were a direct result of air traffic controller staffing issues.
Those figures represent a sharp increase from about 5% of the total airport delays previously this year.
International travelers are feeling the downstream effects of the shortages too, with max customs wait times at John F. Kennedy International Airport stretching out to nearly one hour and 15 minutes for some international arrivals — up 30 minutes from before the shutdown.
Petchenik said depending how long the shutdown lasts, travelers at other major hubs like Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix are likely to be impacted based on the high volume of passengers going through those airports.
“Right now the facilities that are impacted vary from day to day, and are scattered throughout the country. We’re dealing with delays and a few cancelations here and there, but if it continues along this path, if there are fewer air traffic controllers working at more facilities then we start to get into real systematic issues,” he said.
He warned things could get even worse for flyers if the shutdown continues.
“It could mean travelers not getting to where they need to go, because you have a national airspace system that deals with making sure we can get roughly 50,000 scheduled flights where they need to go in a day,” Petchenik said.
“If you’re adding delays on top of that because controllers can’t safely move that number of flights, something has to give. Either scheduling or something else.”
Democrats voted for the 13th time on Tuesday to keep the federal government shuttered, and with the negotiations seemingly going nowhere, essential federal workers like air traffic controllers are no closer to getting paid again.
“These are all federal employees, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of air traffic controllers and others losing out on paychecks. “They want to get paid, and the way to get them paid is to open up the government.”
“With the military and our troops, law enforcement, TSA, ATC, there are some really, really bad consequences to have the government shut down,” Thune said.
“Which is why I said nobody wins, and it seems like the Democrats have been making a calculation from day one that this is about who wins and who loses politically, and if their far left base is happy, they’re happy even if the majority of Americans are paying the price for it.”
The post Airport delays are piling up as air traffic controllers miss their first full paycheck due to shutdown: ‘Something has to give’ appeared first on New York Post.
