As the shutdown drags on, the National Air Traffic Controllers Union said it’s weighing on its members.

AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of U.S. air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday as the government shutdown continues, even though they are still required to work without pay. 

On Monday, flights arriving at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) were grounded due to staffing issues.

At 2:43 p.m., the FAA issued a ground stop affecting departures to the airport. Just before 4 p.m., the agency lifted the ground stop and issued a ground delay for most domestic flights into AUS. That ground delay was lifted before 7 p.m. 

During the ground delay, departures to AUS were delayed an average of 39 minutes, according to the FAA. Departing flights were not affected, meaning flights were held at their originating airports for several hours.

It follows two ground delays earlier this month, impacting travelers on the airport’s busiest days of the year.

On Tuesday, operations were back to normal at Austin’s airport, and the flight status board was mostly green. Homer Wong had no issues traveling from Hawaii to Austin, but said he knew issues were possible given the government shutdown.

“It was in the back of our mind, but we came here without a problem,” Wong said.

The shutdown-related delays are leaving some travelers like Andrea Krimmel feeling uneasy. Her flight from San Jose on Tuesday was smooth sailing, but her trip a few weeks ago was a different story.

While traveling from West Virginia back to Austin, she had two connecting flights, and both ended up being delayed.

“I had to stay the night at the airport, and it just, yeah, it turned into a total fiasco and took a day and a half,” Krimmel said. “It was supposed to be a seven-hour trip.”

Air traffic control staffing issues have plagued Austin’s airport and airports across the nation as the government shutdown continues. More essential workers are not showing up to work as they are set to miss their first full paychecks on Tuesday.

“I’ve been clear to our air traffic controllers. They need to show up for work. They do really important work for our country, and they need to show up,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a press conference in New York City on Tuesday. “I’m not going to lie to anybody, to say that they’re not feeling the stress – the fact that they are working and oftentimes they are head of households, they’re the only income earners in their homes and their families, and the fact that they’re having a hard time paying their bills.”

As they look for ways to pay their bills and put food on the table, some are taking up temporary second jobs.

“Many of them live like most Americans, paycheck to paycheck, and they’re having to look at, am I going to drive for Uber or DoorDash, get some type of other job that can supplement the income that they’re not getting right now,” John Bratcher, southwest regional vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said. “So that increases risk fatigue and, short staffing that we already have.”


Austin’s air traffic controllers

Austin’s control tower already has less than half the number of controllers the FAA says it needs. Bratcher said it is one of the more critically staffed facilities in the country, and they are working with Duffy and the FAA to address those staffing shortages. 

“The controllers at Austin are amazing. They are short-staffed. They are facing challenges just like anybody else, high cost of living,” Bratcher said. “They are living paycheck to paycheck, many of them trying to figure out brand new hires into the system in Austin, and they really just want to get paid for the work they’re doing.”

It is compounding a situation in which there is added pressure, added distractions and added risk in the system during the shutdown.

“I think our controllers are going to continue to come to work and do the things that they can to ensure that the system is safe and it runs as efficiently as possible,” Bratcher said. “Will there be delays? Could there be delays? Absolutely. Our goal is to make it as efficient and as safe as our No. 1 priority, but as this shutdown goes on, the reality is, the reality of losing a paycheck or getting a paycheck of $0 becomes more real for our members.”

Nationwide, the FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. It is a stressful and highly demanding job, and even before the shutdown, given staffing levels, many controllers were already working overtime and six-day weeks.

Roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay.

“Fatigue and risk do increase during a shutdown because they’re now thinking about other things, whether after the regular shift or going and working for DoorDash,” Bratcher said. “That’s going to increase because now you’re working double the time you would normally.”

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels said that for every day that the shutdown drags on, tomorrow is less safe than the day before.

“Every day is a new dynamic, but I can promise you this: Every day the shutdown drags on, it’s another layer of complexity, another layer of stress, another layer of fatigue, another layer of stripping away from the very fabric that is an air traffic controller’s focus on the job that they should be doing, and that’s completely unacceptable,” Daniels said.


Shutdown continues

The U.S. Senate could vote this week on a bill by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would pay air traffic controllers and TSA agents during the shutdown.

At a press conference in New York City on Tuesday, Duffy said nearly half of the nation’s flight delays and cancellations are due to the shutdown. He’s warning that more are expected with the holiday season approaching.

A spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport told KVUE on Tuesday the airport “has not experienced significant delays to the customer experience since the government shutdown began.”

While the shutdown continues, Duffy has said he can’t guarantee on-time flights.

Some analysts think travel problems around Thanksgiving could put pressure on Congress to reach a deal.

For now, local airport officials are urging travelers to arrive early and check their flights as the holiday travel season approaches.