Air traffic controllers are still short after government shutdown
Planes line up on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on November 10, 2025.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The United States has been trying to hire more air traffic controllers for years. The longest-ever federal government shutdown may have made that even more difficult.
“We need more to get into the profession, and this shutdown will make it even harder for us to achieve that goal,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday, a day before Congress signed a bill to fund the federal government through January and end the shutdown. he said.
Air traffic controllers were required to work without regular wages during the shutdown. Some of their salaries were paid on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter, but union and government officials and lawmakers said some were working second jobs to make ends meet during the shutdown, and the lack of regular wages added to their stress.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that low staffing thresholds were reached in the final days of the shutdown, causing planes to slow down across the country. President Donald Trump threatened earlier this week to cut the salaries of air traffic controllers if they did not report to work. Staffing was relatively strong across the U.S. on Friday and disruptions eased.
“You can’t make it look like a great job because you’re always going to have to deal with it,” said Tim Kiefer, who teaches air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.
Kiefer worked as an air traffic controller for more than two decades before retiring. He said closures or the threat of closures have been common throughout his career. “You can see people decide to do other things and say, ‘They didn’t get their money; they’re stuck in the middle of a partisan dispute,'” he said.
5 million passengers
The lack of air traffic controllers delayed or canceled thousands of flights during the shutdown, affecting the travel plans of more than 5 million people. American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines et al.
But despite partial wages in bank accounts, the staffing crisis that regularly disrupts travel is expected to continue.
a government tally Last year, the United States was found to be short 3,903 fully certified air traffic controllers, out of a target of 14,633. There are particularly severe shortages at busy facilities in the congested New York area where controllers direct planes in and out of airports, causing flight disruptions and frustrating airline executives and customers.
Retirements, meanwhile, have increased during the shutdown, with 15 to 20 people retiring a day, down from the usual four a day, Duffy said Tuesday. Controllers are required to retire at age 56, but can do so earlier with benefits depending on years on the job.
Staffing was already thin before the shutdown began on October 1, with many controllers working six days a week. By mid-November, it was approaching crisis levels when air traffic controllers missed two paychecks and the shutdown stretched past the one-month mark.
More than 10 percent of flights in the United States were canceled last Sunday due to poor weather conditions and air traffic controller shortages at facilities across the country. This was the highest rate since July 19, 2024. CrowdStrike disruption that has a major impact on Delta AirlinesThis is causing thousands of flight cancellations and travel headaches, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
Hours after those cancellations piled up on Sunday, the Senate passed a preliminary agreement that led to a vote this week to end the shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration in early November ordered airlines to cut 4% of flights on domestic schedules at 40 major airports, blaming security risks they found on increased pressure on air traffic controllers. If the closure does not end, cuts are set to increase to 10% on Friday. But cancellations increased significantly throughout the week, with just 2% of U.S. departures canceled Friday morning, according to Cirium.
The FAA reduced its mandatory outages from 6% to 3% starting Saturday, saying it would monitor system performance through the weekend.
Outages were similar to those on days of severe storms but were more widespread across the U.S.
Millions in lost revenue
The last-minute cuts were a headache for the industry, which already has airlines from top moneymaker Delta to struggling carrier Spirt. They lowered their outlook for this year after an oversupply and weaker-than-expected demand for flights earlier this year. Airlines have yet to quantify the damage from the shutdown, but Bank of America estimates a loss of $150 million to $200 million in operating income for major network airlines and a loss of less than $100 million for other carriers.
Travelers pass through the terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport more than a month before the ongoing US government shutdown on November 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia, USA.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
Frustrated by recent disruptions, airline executives are pressing Congress to pay controllers during the next shutdown.
“Last week, we saw a growing impact as air traffic control staffing shortages led to a large and unforeseen amount of delays and cancellations across the industry — and this was on top of a series of FAA-mandated schedule cuts,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and David Seymour, the carrier’s chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees Thursday, a day after the House approved a short-term funding bill. he said. “Although we have both been in this industry for a long time, when we think of this level of disruption there are only a few other events that come to mind.”
It could have been worse. That part of fall travel demand is relatively light, but as far as airline executives are concerned, Thanksgiving was fast approaching when Congress ended the shutdown.
“This shutdown has placed enormous strain on our aviation system and caused serious inconvenience for the millions of Americans who depend on it,” United said in a statement. he said. “It is obvious to everyone that policy discussions, no matter how urgent, should never put air travel at risk, and we urge Congress to direct the FAA and [Transportation Security Administration’s] Funding is preserved in the event of any future cuts in federal appropriations.”
‘Political football’
This isn’t the first time a government shutdown has put the aviation industry under pressure. The longest shutdown in U.S. history in 2018-2019 ended just hours after a shortage of controllers disrupted travel in the New York City area.
Some airline executives told CNBC they were disappointed by this latest shutdown and last-minute schedule changes, saying it was larger than expected. “We were pawns” of the shutdown, said one person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Bastian said the best way to prevent such disruptions is to “make sure that the next time something like this happens, these workers get paid.” “Who could disagree with that?”
The airline industry is calling on Congress for legislation that could use funds from airfare taxes to ensure that air traffic controllers and other key industry workers such as airport inspectors and customs agents are paid.
“You can’t hold the American people hostage over a political fight like this,” Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire, said at a virtual news conference on Wednesday, shortly before the House passed the funding bill.
Travelers check their flight status at Dulles International Airport as the nation’s air travel system begins to return to normal as the U.S. government reopens after the longest shutdown in U.S. history on November 13, 2025 in Dulles, Virginia, United States.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Next Wednesday, Sen. who chairs the Aerospace and Innovation Commerce Subcommittee. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., will hold a hearing on the shutdown’s impact on aviation. Moran pushed this year legislation This would allow the FAA to use the Airport and Airline Trust Fund, funded by airfare and fuel taxes, to cover expenses in the event of a government shutdown.
“The government shutdown has severely impacted our already fragile aviation industry, and it will take time to recover from its effects,” he said this week. “It is critical that we address the damage that has been done and look at the long-term impacts of the closure.”
Lawmakers approved $12.5 billion to improve air traffic control earlier this year, but the industry says it needs billions more to modernize the system in the U.S.
The fatal collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., in January also made hiring controllers more urgent, especially in cramped facilities.
About a month after the crash, Duffy announced that the nation’s air traffic controller academy would increase students’ salaries and authorized more universities to teach a similar curriculum to help close the gap. The academy in Oklahoma City also remained open, using a different tactic than the 2018-2019 closure.
However, these are not things that can be solved immediately. It takes years for controllers to be fully trained to work in some of the more complex facilities, and applicants to the academy cannot be more than 30 years old.
