Topline

Flight delays due to air traffic staffing shortages jumped over the weekend and are expected to escalate as controllers miss their first full paycheck Tuesday—while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledges controllers are “wearing thin.”

The Dallas air traffic control facility responsible for guiding planes in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field had a staffing shortage on Monday afternoon.

gettyKey Facts

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic advisory issued at 5:37 p.m. EDT on Monday listed four staffing triggers—indicating insufficient personnel—at three FAA air traffic control facilities.

These included the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), which manages the en-route phase of flight in an airspace covering parts of five southeastern states; Dallas/Fort Worth Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which manages flights in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field; and the control tower at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

An earlier staffing trigger reported at the Southern California TRACON, which manages flights in and out of Los Angeles International Airport, has ended.

As of 6 p.m. EDT, there were departure delays at in Florida at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Orlando, Miami and Tampa airports due to thunderstorms.

Nearly 8,800 flights were delayed Sunday, according to FlightAware—with staffing shortages leading to a temporary ground stop at Los Angeles International Airport and significant flight delays at Newark and Dallas.

Saturday saw staffing triggers at 22 air traffic control facilities, the highest number since the government shutdown began, which Duffy told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures was “a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.”

Air traffic controllers will receive their first “zero paychecks” on Tuesday after receiving a partial paycheck on Oct. 14.

Have Air Traffic Controller Sick Calls Ramped Up During The Shutdown?

“We have more people calling in sick, more people not showing up for work,” Duffy told Fox News on Sunday morning, adding, “My message has been to the controllers, show up. That’s your job.” Nevertheless, the FAA has seen a marked rise in staffing triggers as the shutdown has dragged on, with Saturday’s nearly two dozen staffing shortfalls impacting a mix of TRACONs responsible for guiding planes in and out of airports, Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) managing higher-altitude air traffic flow over a specific region and airport air traffic control towers. In comparison, the prior Saturday, Oct. 18, saw 12 staffing triggers. The two Saturdays before, Oct. 11 and Oct. 4, saw six and 11 staffing triggers, respectively.

Is It Safe To Fly?

Ironically, delays in the system can be interpreted as a sign that air traffic is being kept safe. When the FAA has a shortage of controllers, it manages the flow of air traffic using tools like ground delays, where the number of flights in and out of an airport is reduced to a manageable level, and ground stops, where arrivals and departures are temporarily halted altogether. “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. And that’s why you see the delays in the system,” Duffy said in his Fox interview.

What Other Factors Are Impacting Air Traffic Controllers?

Several controllers—who work 60-hour weeks and get four days off per month, on average—told Forbes it has become more challenging to manage fatigue and the stress of missing the first full paycheck Tuesday and that they are spending days off working second jobs. One expressed concern “about the level of fatigue” he and his colleagues are experiencing and another characterized his stress as “nearing a breaking point.” Duffy told Fox viewers air traffic controllers “are taking second jobs. They’re out there looking. Can I drive Uber? Can I find another source of income to make ends meet?”

How Is The Shutdown Impacting The Ongoing Air Traffic Controller Shortage?

It could slow the “hiring supercharge” Duffy promised in February. The FAA is still “about 2,000 controllers short,” Duffy told Fox News, noting air traffic control instructors at the FAA’s academy in Oklahoma City are not getting paid during the shutdown and the stipends the students receive while they are being trained run out in a little over a week. “We could lose this tranche of air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “So instead of going in the right direction, trying to bring more controllers into the system, I’m going to lose them. This has long-term implications on our ability to make sure we don’t have the staffing shortages and our flights are on time and they’re not delayed, which I think frustrates so many darn Americans.”

Big Number

70%. That’s the portion of Americans who say they are concerned about travel disruptions impacting their holiday plans this year, according to a Hopper holiday survey fielded Oct. 3-6.

Further Reading

TSA Screeners Face First Missed Paycheck Friday—Expect Longer Airport Lines Starting This Weekend (Forbes)