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Trump administration officials are warning that flight delays at America’s airports will only increase as the holidays approach and a resolution to the ongoing federal government shutdown appears out of reach.
With the shutdown now in its 26th day, the stress points in Washington are beginning to show as federal workers appear to be on the brink of missing a second paycheck, due to hit bank accounts at the end of the week. That includes air traffic controllers, who are due to miss their first full paycheck on October 28 if Republicans and Democrats in Washington do not cut a deal. Controllers received a paycheck at a partial rate on October 15.
“This shutdown has real consequences for these hard-working American patriots,” said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
“With each passing day, controllers become more distracted by the risk of receiving a zero-dollar paycheck on October 28, despite working 40 hours per week and, in many cases, mandatory overtime due to the controller staffing shortage.”
Over the weekend, flight delays spiked around the country. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that 22 staffing shortages were reported at airports on Saturday, and the number totaled more than 50 for the entire weekend, according to CNN. According to the network, a four-times increase of staffing delays has been registered since the beginning of October, compared to the same period in 2024.
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Passengers at Washington’s DCA Reagan National airport, where shutdown-related delays were reported over the weekend. (AFP via Getty Images)
With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching, Congress is likely to be under steadily increasing pressure to resolve those delays before millions of travelers are seriously affected.
On Monday, delays were reported at several major airports, though it wasn’t initially clear if any delays were due to staffing shortages. Staff shortages at Washington’s DCA and Los Angeles were both reported Sunday, with the former resulting in a ground delay for several hours.
Duffy pleaded with controllers to continue showing up to work during an interview Sunday on Fox News.
“My message has been to the controllers, ‘Show up, that’s your job. Eventually, you’re gonna be paid.’ But there’s real-life situations that they’re dealing with, with their families,” Duffy told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo. Duffy explained that as many as half of all airline delays during the shutdown, on particularly bad days, could be attributed to staffing shortages.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, during a Fox apperance, pleaded with air traffic controllers to stay on the job this week (Sunday Morning Futures)
Airlines for America, a leading industry trade group, advised consumers to be patient at the airport this holiday season as the shutdown continues. More than 2,300 delays were reported by noon on Monday on FlightAware, a site tracking daily flight delays and cancellations – though some could have been for weather or other reasons.
Many of the nation’s largest airports have already faced sporadic issues. Chicago O’Hare Airport’s delays on Saturday were unrelated to the shutdown, instead stemming from an equipment issue, but that wasn’t the case earlier in October when a controller shortage caused a ground delay at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday evening at the nation’s fourth-busiest airport. The two largest sources of delays as the week opened Monday were related to Hurricane Melissa, currently a category 5 storm bearing down on Jamaica and causing issues at two Florida airports.
On Sunday, more than one in four American Airlines flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.
“It is safe to fly, but ATC staffing shortages strain the system and cause flights to be spaced out, slowing down everything. In some cases, flights may be delayed or even cancelled,” Airlines for America posted on X.
The Transportation secretary also said Sunday that the FAA would reduce the volume and rate of inbound flights to airports if serious staffing shortages posed a risk to traveler safety. The FAA last did this in 2019, when growing staffing shortages during a shutdown forced the agency to reroute flights and increasing space between landing and departing flights at certain locations.
“My job is to keep the airspace safe. And so, if I don’t feel like I have enough controllers or enough controllers that are focused, we will slow down traffic, we will stop traffic,” Duffy said.
Axios reported one air traffic controller, who remained anonymous to comment on the situation, explained that the end of the week represented a fiscal cliff for thousands of controllers. The prospect of rent being due on Nov. 1 has led many of them (and thousands of other federal workers) to seek other sources of income, such as driving for Uber and Doordash, during the shutdown.
“The second one will likely be where people can’t last any longer without money coming in,” said the controller. “Eventually, people are going to have to make human decisions.”
