As the U.S. government shutdown drags into its 36th day, the nation’s air travel system is teetering on the edge of a crisis. Air traffic controllers—those unseen guardians of America’s crowded skies—are working without pay, their numbers thinned by fatigue, financial strain, and a growing sense of frustration. With Thanksgiving, the busiest travel period of the year, just weeks away, warnings from federal officials and industry groups have grown more urgent: the system may be approaching a breaking point, and the consequences could ripple through every corner of the country.
Travelers across the United States have already felt the impact. According to NPR, on Halloween, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to delay flights nationwide due to critical staffing shortages at dozens of air traffic control facilities. Airports from Newark to Orlando have seen hours-long delays, with only about 56% of flights departing on time at Newark Liberty International Airport during the recent weekend—far below the industry’s usual target of 80% on-time departures, as reported by aviation analytics firm Cirium and the Associated Press.
Behind the scenes, the mood among air traffic controllers is grim. NPR spoke with several current controllers, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the FAA. Their stories paint a picture of a workforce under siege. “What you’re seeing is a lot of people who are truly having to call in sick to go earn money elsewhere,” one controller at a Midwest high-altitude facility explained. “I think you’re also seeing people who are just calling in sick because they’re fed up and they’re like, ‘well, I’m going to spend the holiday weekend with my kids for once.’”
Mandatory overtime, stagnating wages, and a longstanding shortage of qualified controllers had already dampened morale before the shutdown began on October 1. But now, with paychecks missed and the next one not scheduled until November 11, the pressure is mounting. Some controllers have taken out short-term loans from credit unions, while others are moonlighting in jobs like private security to make ends meet. “I work with people that are working a second job at night and are just calling in sick in the morning when they can’t go to the job that doesn’t pay them, because they’re too tired,” another controller told NPR.
Federal law prohibits air traffic controllers from striking or coordinating mass absences, a point emphasized by both the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. But the reality is more complicated. As one controller who handles traffic around a major airport put it, “It does degrade that margin of safety if a bunch of people are sick and not at work and I’m having to do their jobs along with my own.” The risks are not just theoretical. Another controller, working at a major New York-area airport, described being the only certified controller on a night shift during bad weather: “Trainees who were around tried to be as helpful as they could, but it was a terrible situation to be stuck in.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has not minced words about the potential consequences. Speaking to reporters on November 4, Duffy warned, “We will restrict the airspace when we feel it’s not safe, if we don’t have enough controllers to effectively and safely manage our skies.” He added, “You will see mass chaos, you will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have air traffic controllers.” Duffy’s remarks echo the concerns of air traffic controllers themselves, who say a “tipping point” is near if the shutdown is not resolved before another missed paycheck.
The FAA, for its part, announced on November 5 that it would reduce air traffic by 10% at 40 high-volume airports to maintain safety. The agency did not specify which airports would be affected, but the move is expected to cause further delays and cancellations as the Thanksgiving travel rush approaches. According to FlightAware, 1,932 flight delays were reported nationwide as of midday Tuesday—a number that, while lower than some previous days, still reflects the growing strain on the system.
For many federal workers, the shutdown’s toll is not just professional but deeply personal. At Newark Liberty International Airport, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers lined up last week to receive food parcels—boxes of nonperishable items and fresh produce—to help tide them over. The image of these essential workers, responsible for the safety of millions, waiting in line for groceries starkly illustrates the human cost of the ongoing political impasse.
The economic stakes, too, are enormous. The U.S. Travel Association estimated in a letter to Congressional leaders that the economy has already lost more than $4 billion due to the shutdown. “With Thanksgiving, the busiest travel period of the year, imminently approaching, the consequences of a continued shutdown will be immediate, deeply felt by millions of American travelers, and economically devastating to communities in every state,” the association warned in its letter, cited by the Associated Press.
Major airlines, aviation unions, and industry groups have joined in urging Congress to pass a funding resolution and end the shutdown. The clean funding resolution proposed by Republicans has been backed by the travel industry, which fears that further disruptions could have cascading effects on businesses, tourism, and local economies nationwide.
Mike McCormick, a former FAA official and now a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, explained to the Associated Press that the FAA has contingency plans for closing parts of the airspace when staffing is short—much like rerouting flights during severe weather. But these workarounds have their limits, especially if the shortage becomes widespread or prolonged. “It’s difficult to predict how much worse the situation will get once controllers miss a second paycheck,” McCormick cautioned.
Despite the mounting challenges, most flight disruptions so far have remained isolated and temporary, thanks in part to the FAA’s ability to manage staff shortages more effectively than during previous shutdowns. However, as one controller told NPR, “I think we’re reaching a tipping point. This is kind of about the point in the last shutdown where people just started getting fed up with it.”
With the Thanksgiving holiday looming and no end to the shutdown in sight, the stakes could hardly be higher. As one high-altitude controller from the Midwest put it bluntly, “I think you’re going to see probably the worst day of travel in the history of flight.” For travelers, workers, and policymakers alike, the next few weeks may prove a crucial test of the nation’s resolve—and its ability to keep the skies safe in the face of political gridlock.
