Roughly 7,923 flights within, into, or out of the United States were delayed on Sunday, FlightAware reported, with more than 4,500 additional delays recorded so far Monday. That’s well above the year’s daily average of about 4,100 delays. More than 20% of flights operated by American Airlines and Southwest Airlines were affected Sunday.
Weekend air travel was disrupted in several major cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Newark, due to staffing shortages, the FAA said, according to Reuters. The agency also warned that shortages in Las Vegas and Phoenix could lead to additional delays. It’s not clear, however, if the issues are tied directly to the shutdown.
More than 23,000 flights were delayed earlier this month, with staffing problems responsible for over half of them, a sharp increase from the usual 5%, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
“As Secretary Duffy has said, there have been increase staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations,” an FAA spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
The shutdown battle has put air traffic control at the center of the political crossfire, with each party faulting the other while unions and airlines press for a quick end to the shutdown.
Around 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration employees are reporting for duty without pay during the shutdown. Those controllers are expected to forgo their next scheduled paycheck on Oct. 28.
The FAA is operating with roughly 3,500 fewer air traffic controllers than its staffing goal, and many employees were already working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks before the shutdown began. The Department of Transportation has kept air traffic control training programs running during the shutdown, a first in the agency’s history, but funding for those programs expires Oct. 31. Without an extension, hundreds of trainees could be sidelined, worsening an already critical staffing shortage.
The Trump administration has begun displaying videos at some airport security checkpoints blaming Democrats, though many airports have declined to show them.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS WARN OF MOUNTING STRESS AS SHUTDOWN HALTS PAYCHECKS: ‘A NEW RISK’
The shutdown has created similar problems to the 35-day closure in 2018 and 2019, when severe staffing shortages caused major flight delays at LaGuardia, Atlanta, and Washington National airports. The FAA later found that the lack of controllers slowed response times and diminished safety margins.
As of Monday afternoon, several major airports across the country were experiencing delays and closures, according to the FAA’s National Airspace System Status page. Newark Liberty International Airport reported average ground delays of about 47 minutes due to airport volume, while New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport had average delays of 86 minutes caused by wind. In Boston, runway construction led to average delays of 71 minutes, and Denver International Airport reported 24-minute delays for similar reasons.
