The government shutdown is beginning to cause more sustained delays at airports across the country due to a shortage in air traffic controllers that could get worse as the busy holiday travel season approaches.
Airport interruptions have been largely sporadic. But this weekend was the worst for air traffic control staffing since the shutdown began last month. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Friday that a “surge in callouts” among air traffic controllers had left at least half of the 30 busiest airports across the country understaffed, leading to widespread delays.
Two of Southern California’s busiest airports — Los Angeles International Airport and San Diego International Airport — experienced average flight delays of at least an hour on Sunday.
And it might be just the beginning as the government shutdown, soon expected to be the longest on record, heads into its second month at the same time as travelers prepare to fly to spend time with loved ones around the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I think it’s only going to get worse,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks, resulting in high levels of fatigue and stress among staff tasked with keeping the skies safe while wrestling with personal financial pressures.
The most recent delays across the country began on Thursday when the FAA warned in an advisory that there would be “no certified traffic controllers available” at Orlando International Airport. By the evening, the airport reported average delays of nearly three hours, with some flights delayed for much longer or canceled.
On Friday, the FAA reported that the staffing shortage had caused delays for flights bound for a host of airports including those in San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. From Friday through Sunday, more than 16,000 flights within, into or out of the United States experienced delays. On Monday morning, more than 2,200 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.
On Sunday, the FAA issued advisories warning that delays were expected to increase to nearly 1½ hours for flights heading to LAX between 8 and 10 p.m. At San Diego International Airport, delays were expected to worsen to nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes between 9 and 10 p.m.
On Monday afternoon, departures to Texas airports — Dallas Fort Worth International, Dallas Love Field and Austin-Bergstrom International — were delayed due to staffing issues, according to the FAA.
The longer the shutdown continues, the more delays travelers should expect, particularly as winter weather worsens and the demand for air travel increases, experts say.
“It’s just going to continue to snowball,” said Tim Kiefer, an assistant professor of air traffic control at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “And as we approach the holiday season, specifically Thanksgiving, you’re going to start to see this fatigue more and more, and you’re probably going to start to see less and less air traffic controllers showing up to work.”
The crisis comes as Americans start to travel by air in huge numbers, rebounding from the pandemic travel slowdown.
In 2024, the FAA reported more than 232,000 flights across the U.S. between Nov. 24 and 28, a record for the time of year. At LAX, one of the nation’s busiest airports, officials had projected that 2.2 million passengers would travel through the airport over the Thanksgiving holiday last year.
When staffing shortages happen, the FAA has said it will reduce the flow of air traffic in an effort to maintain safety, resulting in flight delays or cancellations.
Thomas Anthony, director of the aviation safety and security program at USC, said while the public focus has largely been on air traffic control positions, there’s a host of employees that perform other critical air travel functions who are being affected by the shutdown. This can also contribute to slower airport security lines, flight delays and cancellations.
“Air traffic controllers are just the tiny tip of a very large iceberg,” Anthony said.
The FAA has for years been dealing with a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers. This means the controllers who are currently working are staffed for shifts six days per week and sometimes work up to 10 hours per day. Now, they’re not being paid, Kiefer said.
Air traffic control staff received a partial paycheck in mid-October and got no paycheck at all last week. Many have continued to work and some have been forced to take on side jobs to make ends meet. Fatigue and concerns about how they’re going to pay their bills will likely have a negative impact on the level of safety in the air, Kiefer said.
“Now, does that mean air travel is unsafe? No, air travel is not unsafe, but it would be safer if you didn’t have a government shutdown,” Kiefer said. “You would have the controller who’s working on a tower being able to focus on the aircraft and not think about how they’re gonna pay for Christmas or rent or buy food or anything like that.”
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. President Nick Daniels, who leads the union that represents air traffic controllers, urged Congress in a statement on Friday to pass a stopgap bill to end the shutdown.
Democrats have said they would not vote to resume federal funding until Republicans agree to negotiate on a compromise on Affordable Care Act tax credits, which are expiring soon.
“It is incredibly unfair to expect hard-working, patriotic American air traffic controllers and their families to bear the full burden of policy disagreements in Congress,” Daniels said. “We have consistently said that NATCA supports any measure that would end this shutdown and pay our members.”
Staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.
