The ongoing government shutdown in the United States is taking a significant toll on air traffic controllers, who will miss their paychecks during this period. The situation has led to increased calls for sick leave, heightened anxiety over financial stability, and growing flight delays across the country. As controllers continue to struggle with the demands of their jobs and a tightening fiscal environment, the effects for air travelers are becoming more clear.
Threatened shutdown has now gone on for 27 days. Their new pay deal comes as air traffic controllers have become understandably more concerned with fulfilling duties on the job and bills at home. Federal air traffic controller Joe Segretto last week noted that his fellow controllers are “depressed and demoralized.” Most of them care more about their decreasing bank accounts than losing their jobs.
Controllers’ Work Conditions Compromised
Air traffic controllers continue to play an essential role in keeping our skies safe and efficient. As Nick Daniels, Senior Engineer at the Institute of Transportation Engineers, highlights, the stakes couldn’t be higher in the work they’re doing. They need a 100 percent margin of safety. As financial pressures continue to rise, controllers are increasingly feeling the burden. In response, they’re quitting or taking leave to work other jobs, leading to a spike in sick calls.
Many controllers have had a hard time putting food on the table. One unnamed controller shared a deeply personal account of how the financial strain has compromised his family’s well-being:
“I’m running out of money. And if she doesn’t get the medicine she needs, she dies. That’s the end.”
This unfortunate reality highlights the difficult situation that controllers face. They work hard each day to make their family’s needs, and those of others, come together.
The effects of these challenges can be seen in the increasing number of controllers who are forced to make the call in sick. Unexplained flight delays have increased exponentially, adding tremendous operational pressure at large hubs across the country. This stretches from high-profile airports such as Newark Liberty International Airport to Burbank Airport in California. Just last month, Los Angeles International Airport had to ground all incoming flights for almost two hours. Staffing issues, made worse by the shutdown, led to the disruption.
Staffing Shortages Worsen Amid Shutdown
Even before the current shutdown—a crisis that has itself exacerbated air traffic controller shortages—the United States suffered from a long-term shortage of 3,000 controllers. This sustained crisis has recently been worsened by the government’s failure to recruit new staff during the shutdown. Recent accounts indicate that affected students have already begun dropping out of ATC training programs in Oklahoma City. This trend magnifies our long-standing capacity problem.
According to Duffy, a union representative for the air traffic controllers, 95 percent of controllers do report to work every day. The governor cautioned that anyone abusing sick leave could be fired, he said. This makes even more burdensome controllers that are already weighed down with stress from financial and job security worries.
Record high sick calls and subsequent staffing shortages are making this a perfect storm of difficulty for the administration. They’re having a hard time because of this balancing act. Given that controllers are made to work six days a week without pay, the chance for additional delays seems very likely.
Congressional Pressure Mounts
With the shutdown continuing week after week, it’s time for Congress to come to an agreement and reopen our government. Greatly increased flight delays and disruptions are now a reality. Specifically, air traffic controllers continue to work under intolerable working conditions and are forced to contend with their own financial crises.
The longer this impasse drags on, the more difficult it will be for airlines and then for passengers. Too many controllers are just getting crushed by their situation. Lawmakers should immediately address the shutdown and the deeper-rooted problems that are driving the unprecedented staffing shortage in air traffic control.
