The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday reported major air traffic control staffing issues, impacting 37 airport towers and other centers and delaying flights in at least 12 major U.S. cities — including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.
Some 6,000 flights were delayed on Saturday, down from Friday when 7,000 were delayed and 1,025 were canceled. The FAA had instructed airlines to cut 4% of daily flights starting on Friday at 40 major airports because of air traffic control safety concerns. The shutdown, which has now reached a record 39 days, has led to shortages of air traffic controllers who, like other federal employees, have not been paid for weeks.
Reductions in flights are mandated to rise to 6% on Tuesday and then hit 10% by November 14.
The air traffic absences prompted the FAA to impose ground delay programs at nine airports on Saturday, with delays averaging 282 minutes for flights at Atlanta, one of the busiest U.S. airports. The cuts, which began at 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) on Friday, include about 700 flights from the four largest carriers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. The four airlines canceled about the same number of flights on Saturday, under the FAA mandate but were forced to cancel additional flights due to air traffic control staffing issues..
Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said 20% to 40% of controllers had not been showing up for work over the previous several days.
During a U.S. Senate debate on Friday, Senator Ted Cruz blamed the shutdown for air traffic control concerns. Cruz, a Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said he has been told that since the shutdown started, pilots have filed more than 500 voluntary safety reports about mistakes made by air traffic controllers because of fatigue.
The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, said on Saturday that bipartisan talks to end the shutdown had taken a positive turn, but the workday ended with no deals announced. The Senate is to try again with a rare Sunday session.
During the government shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay, leading to increased absenteeism. Many air traffic controllers were notified on Thursday that they would receive no compensation for a second consecutive pay period next week. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was possible he could require 20% cuts in air traffic if more controllers stop showing up for work. “I assess the data,” Duffy said. “We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace.” The Trump administration has cited air traffic control problems as Republicans try to pressure Senate Democrats to back what they call a “clean” government funding bill with no strings attached. Democrats blame the shutdown on a Republican refusal to negotiate over health insurance subsidies that will expire at the end of this year.
