Posted on 10/07/2025 4:37:42 PM PDT by DoodleBob
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Air traffic control staffing issues are delaying flights for a second straight day at numerous U.S. airports as the government shutdown reaches its seventh day, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice on Tuesday.
The FAA said many flights were being delayed at Nashville and Newark airports, among others. Arriving flights were being held for up to 30 minutes at Newark due to the staffing issues.
Nashville air traffic control is facing significant staffing issues and will curtail operations later on Tuesday, the FAA said. Approach control will be taken over later by Memphis Center, it added.
The FAA is reducing the number of arriving flights per hour at Chicago O'Hare, citing staffing, with average delays of 41 minutes.
The FAA also reported staffing issues at Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center.
Severe weather is also impacting flights across the country.
Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn up for work during the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. Controllers are set to receive a partial paycheck on October 14 for work performed before the shutdown.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday the FAA had seen a slight increase in controllers taking sick leave and air traffic staffing has been cut by 50% in some areas since the shutdown started last week.
"If we don't have controllers, we're going to make sure the airspace is safe. So what we do is we'll slow traffic," Duffy said on Tuesday on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I smell a rat.
You can bet Dems are trying to figure out how to get a plane crashed and people killed to make Trump look bad.
me too sick f words they are going to get folks killed
The GOP needs to introduce a stand alone bill for the FAA budget. Make the Dems vote for or against safe air travel.
It’s that simple. Single subject bills funding one agency at a time. Stop the CR and Omnibus bill BS.
+1
Bring in ATCs from the military, ala Reagan.
Good time to let airports start hiring them. Security folks too while we’re at it.
Get them off the government. Privatize the industry.
I can report that OHare is experiencing significant delays at the moment.
Broadly speaking, that is exactly what Mike Johnson and most of the House Republicans are trying to do. And it’s what those who are serious about trying to control spending have been trying to do for over 20 years: restore the budget process and pass the various authorization and appropriation bills in regular order.
The democrats obstruct that process in the House, but eventually a determined Republican majority can ram them through. But regular order dies in the Senate due to the filibuster. The democrats WANT everything in a massive CR or Omnibus bill because that short circuits oversight and reform, and holds everything hostage to their extortion games. This year is no different. The democrats want everything held hostage until they get their 2025 spending boost. Then they will be back for more, every year going forward. More, always more — or we’ll shut down the government.
Agreed. No reason at all for security at airports to be government employees.
Yup, if they don’t care about citizen safety, fire them.
Departures contact ATC Center at the assigned intersection and altitude, and they handle it from there.
I was already in Germany during the strike, so they couldn’t deploy me to a civilian airport. USAF controllers who had PCS orders, from what I heard, were told not to answer their phones, to avoid being deployed. I don’t know if that is true or not, but they don’t just hand a new controller a mic, and tell him to go work the position. It doesn’t work like that. At some of the more complex facilities, it can take months, to get checked out in a facility. By then, I hope the problem is solved. It isn’t as simple as it seems.
I think that is mostly not true. Most are open 24 hours a day. Only a few close up. Even po dunk airports, like Grand Forks, are open 24 hours a day. Others, like Del Rio and uvalde, Tx, are 24 hour a day uncontrolled airports. They have no towers at all.
I was at Laughlin for 9 years. When all local flying was down, we closed the tower, Rapcon and the whole airport closed down. No aircraft could land or take off. It was only open 8 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. During the week, however, it was one of the busier airports in America.
Reagan had a fix for ATC pukes not showing up for work...
I also owned an airport, albeit an uncontrolled field. At the closest intersection I reported departure and my instrument approach procedure turn for landings in bad weather.
Like I showed you. Less than 10% of airports have control tower operations.
Air Traffic Control in the U.S. Total Airports and Control Towers The United States has approximately 5,100 public airports. Only about 10% of these airports have air traffic control towers.
Air Traffic Control Towers This means around 510 airports are staffed with air traffic controllers.
These towers manage the flow of air traffic, especially at busy airports with high volumes of commercial flights. Role of Air Traffic Control Centers The U.S. operates 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC). These centers oversee aircraft flying in specific regions of airspace during the en route portion of flights. Importance of Control Towers Airports with control towers are crucial for ensuring safe and efficient air traffic management. Airports without towers rely on pilots to communicate and follow safety protocols.
+2
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