Major US airports continued to see flight delays on Tuesday as air traffic control facilities struggle to maintain staffing amid the federal government shutdown.
Shortages on Monday affected major airports around New York, Los Angeles and Denver on Monday, with over 6,000 flights delayed across the US.
The air traffic control facility handling the Hollywood Burbank airport in Los Angeles completely closed on Monday afternoon into Monday evening amid staffing shortages.
While other government workers are furloughed during the shutdown, air traffic controllers are considered essential workers and must continue working without pay during the shutdown.
On Monday, the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, told reporters that the airspace was still safe for travelers, though a slightly higher number of controllers have called out sick since the shutdown began.
“Do I think they’re more stressed right now in our towers? Yes. Is our airspace unsafe? No,” he said.
Some facilities have seen their staffing reduced, and Duffy stressed that if the department believed there were issues in the airspace, “we will shut down, we will close it down, we will delay”.
In a statement, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, which represents 20,000 air traffic controllers, said that the controllers could work “10 hours a day, 6 days a week to make sure [flights] and their precious passengers and cargo arrives safely”.
“A government shutdown adds unnecessary distraction to their work, adding strain on a workforce that is already stretched thin working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, operating the most complex airspace in the world,” the statement said, noting that during the last government shutdown in 2019, many controllers had to “take second jobs to feed their families and pay their bills – leading to stress and fatigue”.
In addition to shortages among air traffic controllers, the government shutdown also affects the Essential Air Service program, which helps commercial airlines maintain services to smaller airports. Duffy said there was a potential that funding under the shutdown could start to dry up.
“There’s many small communities across the country that will now no longer have the resources to make sure they have air service in their communities,” he said. “Every state across the country will be impacted if the program runs out of money.”
The government shutdown began last Monday after Republicans and Democrats in the Senate hit an impasse over funding.
Though Republicans have a slight majority in the Senate, they need 60 out of 100 votes to pass a funding bill. Democrats said they would not pass a bill that does not include concessions around healthcare. Republican leaders said they will not negotiate until funding is restored.
