Air traffic controllers are still struggling with job shortages after the government shutdown

The United States has been striving to hire more air traffic controllers for years. The longest federal government shutdown on record may have made it even more difficult.

“We need to get more of them into this profession, and this shutdown will make it more difficult 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 to end the shutdown.

Air traffic controllers were required to work without receiving regular pay during the lockdown. They were partially paid on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, but during the shutdown, some took second jobs to make ends meet, while not receiving regular wages added to their stress, union and government officials and lawmakers said.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported that lower staffing thresholds were reached, slowing planes across the country during the final days of the shutdown. President Donald Trump earlier this week threatened to cut air traffic controllers’ paychecks if they didn’t show up for work. On Friday, employment levels were relatively strong across the United States and disruptions eased.

“It can’t seem like this is a cool job because you’re going to have to deal with it all the time,” said Tim Keifer, who studies air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

Kiefer was an air traffic controller for more than two decades before his retirement. He said internet shutdowns or threats of them were common during his career. “You might see people decide to do other things and say, ‘They didn’t get paid, they were stuck in the middle of a partisan dispute,'” he said.

A shortage of air traffic controllers led to thousands of flights being delayed or canceled during the shutdown, affecting the travel plans of more than 5 million people, according to Airlines for America, an industry group that includes… American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines And others.

But even as partial salaries reach bank accounts, the hiring crunch that regularly upends travel is set to continue.

A government census last year showed that the United States was short of 3,903 fully certified air traffic controllers (14,633). The shortages have been particularly acute at crowded facilities such as those where controllers direct planes in and out of airports in the congested New York area, increasing flight disruptions and frustrating airline executives and customers.

Meanwhile, retirements have soared in the lockdown, with 15 to 20 people retiring daily, down from the usual rate of four a day, Duffy said on Tuesday. Controllers are required to retire at age 56, but can do so early with benefits based on years worked.

Staffing was already thin before the lockdown began on October 1, and many monitors were working six days a week. By mid-November, with two air traffic controllers losing full pay and the closure crossing the one-month mark, the situation was approaching crisis levels.

More than 10% of U.S. departures were canceled last Sunday due to inclement weather and a shortage of air traffic controllers at facilities across the country. This was the highest rate since July 19, 2024 during the period Crowd Strike The outage had a huge impact on Delta AirlinesThis led to thousands of flights being canceled and causing travel problems, according to aviation data company Cirium.

Hours after cancellations surged on Sunday, the Senate advanced a preliminary agreement that led to a vote to end the shutdown this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration in early November ordered airlines to cut 4% of flights from their domestic schedules at 40 major airports, blaming the safety risks it found on increased pressure on air traffic controllers. The discounts are set to rise to 10% on Friday, if the lockdown does not end. However, cancellations improved significantly during the week, and on Friday morning, only 2% of U.S. departures had been cancelled, according to Cirium.

The Federal Aviation Administration reduced its mandatory reductions from 6% to 3% starting Saturday, saying it would monitor the system’s performance throughout the weekend.

The disturbances were similar to those experienced during days of severe storms, but were more widespread across the United States

The last-minute cuts have been a headache for the industry, with airlines from Delta, the biggest moneymaker, to struggling airline Spirit, lowering their forecasts for this year after an oversupply of flights and weaker-than-expected demand earlier this year. Airlines have not yet quantified the damage from the shutdown, but Bank of America estimated operating income to be between $150 million to $200 million for large airlines and less than $100 million for other airlines.

Airline executives, angered by the recent unrest, are pressing Congress to ensure that controllers are paid in the next shutdown.

“Last week, we saw an escalating impact as air traffic control staffing shortages led to massive, unexpected amounts of delays and cancellations across the industry — and that was on top of a series of FAA-mandated schedule cuts,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and the carrier’s chief operating officer, David Seymour, said in a memo to staff Thursday, a day after the House approved a short-term funding bill. “Although we have both been in this industry for a long time, there are few other events that come to mind when we think of this level of disruption.”

It could have been worse. This portion of fall travel demand was relatively light, but Thanksgiving was quickly approaching when Congress ended the shutdown, as far as airline executives were concerned.

“This closure has put tremendous pressure on our aviation system and has caused severe inconvenience for millions of Americans who depend on it,” United said in a statement. “It should be clear to all that political discussions, no matter how urgent, should never jeopardize air travel, and we urge Congress to ensure that the FAA and [Transportation Security Administration’s] Funding is protected in the event of any future lapse in federal appropriations.”

This was not the first time a government shutdown had put the aviation industry under pressure. The 2018-19 shutdown, then the longest in U.S. history, ended just hours after a shortage of control devices crippled travel in the New York City area.

Some airline executives told CNBC they were frustrated by this latest shutdown and last-minute schedule changes, which ended up being larger than expected. “We were pawns” in the lockdown, said one of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Wednesday that “the thing we don’t like is being a political football” and said it’s unacceptable that air traffic controllers and TSA officers are forced to work without regular pay.

The best way to prevent such disruptions is to “make sure these workers get paid the next time this happens,” Bastian said. “Who can disagree with that?”

The airline industry is urging Congress to pass legislation that could tap money from plane ticket taxes to ensure air traffic controllers and other essential industry workers such as airport controllers and customs agents are paid.

“Don’t hold the American people hostage in a political battle like this,” Chris Sununu, CEO of American Airlines and the former governor of New Hampshire, said in a virtual news conference on Wednesday, shortly before the House passed the funding bill.

Next Wednesday, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who chairs the Commerce Subcommittee on Air, Space and Innovation, will hold a hearing on the impact of the shutdown on aviation. Moran this year pushed for legislation to allow the FAA to use the Airport and Air Corridor Trust Fund, which is funded by taxes on airfares and fuel, to cover expenses if the government shuts down.

“The government shutdown has severely impacted our already fragile aviation industry, and it will take some time to recover,” he said in a statement this week. “It is important that we address the damage that has been done and look at the long-term impacts of the closure.”

Lawmakers earlier this year approved $12.5 billion to improve air traffic control, though the industry has said it needs billions more to modernize the system in the United States.

The fatal collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., in January also made hiring monitors even more urgent, especially at crowded facilities.

About a month after the accident, Duffy announced that the country’s air traffic control academy would raise student salaries, and authorized more universities to teach similar curricula to help alleviate the shortage. The academy in Oklahoma City has also remained open, a different tactic than in the 2018-19 shutdown.

But these are not immediate fixes. It takes years for controllers to be fully trained to work in some of the more complex facilities, and applicants for the academy cannot be more than 30 years old.