An individual rides an electrical scooter previous the air site visitors management tower at Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport because the U.S. authorities shutdown continues in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., Oct. 8, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
U.S. air site visitors controllers Tuesday missed their first full paychecks for the reason that authorities shutdown started in the beginning of the month, whereas the Division of Transportation mentioned flight delays attributable to staffing shortages have elevated.
The controllers are going through elevated monetary stress and it is getting more durable to recruit much-needed employees, union officers and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned Tuesday. Air site visitors controllers and airport safety screeners are among the many staff required to work in the course of the shutdown as important staff, though they are not getting common paychecks.
“The issues are mounting day by day,” mentioned Nick Daniels, president of the Nationwide Air Site visitors Controllers Affiliation, at a information convention at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration warned about staffing shortages at airports serving Philadelphia, Denver and airspace over a big swath of the Western U.S. that would disrupt flights on Tuesday.
Duffy advised reporters that 44% of the flight delays on Sunday, and about 24% of them on Monday, had been attributable to air site visitors controller staffing, in contrast with round 5% of the delays up to now this yr.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy holds a press convention on the impression of the federal government shutdown on air journey, at LaGuardia Airport within the Queens borough of New York Metropolis, U.S., October 28, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
Duffy additionally mentioned that the shutdown is hurting authorities air site visitors coaching and recruiting, and that some funds for trainee stipends are “about to expire.”
Air site visitors controller union officers have mentioned that some members have been driving for ride-hailing platforms and taking different jobs to make ends meet.
Members of the union, together with its president, plan handy out leaflets and converse to the general public at a number of airports throughout the U.S. on Tuesday, urging vacationers to push Congress to finish the shutdown.
The federal government shutdown, coming into its fourth week, has added to considerations about extra pressure on the U.S. air site visitors management system, which has challenged airways and vacationers alike due to years of understaffing.
Flights earlier this month had been delayed at a number of U.S. airports however the extreme disruptions that preceded the top of the longest-ever shutdown, between late 2018 and early 2019, haven’t occurred.
