The United States is facing unprecedented turmoil at many of its airports amid the longest government shutdown in the country’s history. The disruption has been fuelled by a growing absence of air traffic controllers who have gone without pay due to the prolonged impasse in Washington.
According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), hundreds of flights have been cancelled and thousands delayed across the country as a result. The Al Jazeera network reported on Tuesday (4 November) that the situation has spiralled over the past week, severely affecting travel nationwide.
Data from the flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that between Friday and Sunday, more than 16,700 flights were delayed and 2,282 cancelled across the United States. The chaos continued into Monday, with over 4,000 flights delayed and more than 600 cancelled by the evening in major airports, including Chicago O’Hare, Dallas–Fort Worth, Denver, and Newark.
The FAA stated that staffing shortages have now affected half of the 30 major air traffic control centres nationwide, with New York’s airports seeing absenteeism reach up to 80 percent.
According to Al Jazeera, around 13,000 air traffic controllers are currently working across the United States. Classified as “essential personnel”, they have been working without pay since 1 October, when the shutdown began. The FAA warned that rising absenteeism among controllers has forced them to reduce the number of flights to maintain safety standards.
In an official statement, the agency said,
“If the shutdown does not end, air traffic controllers will remain unpaid, and passengers will face more delays and disruptions. To ensure safety, we will restrict flight operations if necessary, which could result in further cancellations.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS News on Sunday that delays would persist as long as the shutdown continued.
“We’re working overtime to make sure the system remains safe. Flights will be delayed or cancelled if that’s what it takes to maintain safety,” he said.
Duffy added that some air traffic controllers have been forced to take up second jobs to feed their families, but assured they would not face dismissal for doing so.
“When someone has to take a second job to put food on the table, I’m not going to fire them,” he stated.
As of Tuesday, the U.S. government shutdown had reached its 35th consecutive day, equalling the record length of the 2018–2019 shutdown, making it the longest in American history.
Currently, at least 670,000 civilian federal employees have been placed on mandatory unpaid leave, while around 730,000 others continue to work without pay, deepening the crisis affecting key sectors across the country.