Nearly 50% of the 30 busiest US airports faced shortages of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday, leading to flight delays nationwide as a federal government shutdown hit its 31st day.
The absence of controllers on Friday is by far the most widespread since the shutdown began, with one of the worst-hit regions being New York, where 80% of air traffic controllers were out, the agency said.
At least 35 FAA facilities, including several at the largest US airports, reported staffing problems. Airports affected included facilities in New York City, Austin, Newark, Phoenix, Washington, Nashville, Dallas and Denver. At some airports, delays averaged one hour or more.
The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to work without pay.
“After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue,” the FAA said late on Friday.
“The shutdown must end so that these controllers receive the pay they’ve earned and travelers can avoid further disruptions and delays,” it added.
The impact on the system would have been far worse on a typical Friday. However, Halloween evening traffic was 20% lower than usual, which helped mitigate the effects of staffing shortages, airline officials said.
More than 5,600 flights were delayed on Friday and 500 canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.
At New York City’s LaGuardia airport, 50% of flights were delayed and 12% canceled, with delays averaging 140 minutes, while Washington DC’s Reagan National airport had a quarter of flights delayed.
Airlines are bracing for more flight disruptions.
“Coming into this weekend and then the week after, I think you are going to see even more disruptions in the airspace,” the US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom.
On Thursday, air traffic control staffing shortages snarled flights at Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington DC, with FlightAware data showing 7,300 flights delayed and 1,250 canceled across the US.
Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have all called on Congress to quickly pass a stopgap funding bill known as a “continuing resolution” to let the government reopen amid talks on disputes over healthcare policy.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association’s president, Nick Daniels, on Friday joined the airlines in calling for a continuing resolution.
The government shutdown began on 1 October and continues as a federal funding bill has stalled in Congress.
Republican lawmakers want to pass a “clean” funding measure with no strings attached while Democrats have demanded talks on extending healthcare subsidies set to expire at year’s end.
Airlines have repeatedly called for an end to the shutdown, citing aviation safety risks.
The shutdown has exacerbated existing staffing shortages, threatening to cause widespread disruptions similar to those that helped end a 35-day government shutdown in 2019.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels, and many had been working mandatory overtime as well as six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
