Staff Shortages Tied to Shutdown Cause Widespread Flight Delays

Major airports in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, and Newark reported delays as more than 5,800 flights were affected.

Passengers line up to check bags before their flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta on June 28, 2022. Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced delays at airports around the nation due to staffing issues connected to the government shutdown.

Flights were affected in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, and Newark, New Jersey, as the shutdown reached its 19th day, the FAA said late on Oct. 19.

More than one in five American Airlines and Southwest Airlines flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. The tracking site reported that more than 5,800 flights were delayed on Oct. 19, with weather and some sporting events also affecting flight times.

More delays are expected in Las Vegas and Phoenix due to air traffic control absences, according to the FAA.

Around 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are required to work with or without pay during the government shutdown.

TSA reported in a post to X that the agency screened nearly 2.99 million people on Oct. 19, and that wait times averaged just over five minutes.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said 53 percent of flight delays were due to staffing issues, compared to the normal 5 percent impact. More than 23,000 flights were delayed in the course of one week earlier in October.

Video footage posted to social media on Oct. 20 showed TSA lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport stretching through the airport.

Questions about the functionality of air traffic control during the shutdown have been a key issue for both major political parties, as well as unions and airlines.

A 35-day shutdown in 2019 resulted in controllers and TSA officers missing work due to a lack of paychecks. Lawmakers faced pressure to end the shutdown as airport wait times increased and air traffic slowed in New York City and Washington.

To add to the industry pressure, the FAA has around 3,000 fewer air traffic controllers than their targeted staffing. Many of the same controllers working without pay had been working mandatory overtime and six-day workweeks before the shutdown.

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, was asked in an MSNBC interview on Oct. 11 whether the air traffic controller staffing shortages would impact safety.

“It has to,” the union president said. “I would think what you’re going to see is an increase in risk in the system as this carries on.”

TSA posted an Oct. 17 update on X from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said that air marshals and other “critical mission” employees would receive a “super check” to cover lost days of work and overtime by Oct. 22.

“President [Donald] Trump and I will always stand by law enforcement, and we are keeping our promise to always support them by making sure they are paid during the Democrats’ shutdown,” Noem said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has maintained that his party was “fighting to protect your healthcare” on the 20th day of the shutdown.

Republican leaders have said Congress should extend federal government funding to reopen the government first and that Democrats’ demands should be negotiated later and in seperation from the shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Oct. 17 said in an X post: “Democrats have now voted 11 TIMES to keep the government closed—blocking pay for troops, Border Patrol, TSA agents, air traffic controllers, and the rest of our federal workforce.

“Yesterday, they went EVEN FURTHER — voting against a bipartisan standalone bill to fund our national defense and pay our troops. Their message couldn’t be clearer: politics OVER patriots, and the American people LAST.”

Jacob Burg and Reuters contributed to this report.