Philadelphia, PA – October 25, 2025 – The ongoing partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government entered its third week on Friday, plunging the nation’s air travel system into chaos with widespread flight delays, mounting cancellations, and growing warnings from officials and union leaders about deteriorating aviation safety. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, speaking at a hastily arranged press conference in Philadelphia, painted a grim picture of an air traffic control network stretched to its breaking point due to chronic understaffing, unpaid workers, and a recruitment pipeline on the verge of collapse.
According to data cited by Secretary Duffy and corroborated by CNN, staffing shortages in air traffic control facilities now account for up to 53 percent of daily flight delays across the country—a staggering spike from the typical average of just 5 percent. “On any given day, staffing contributes about 5% to delays,” Duffy told reporters. “But some days, we’ve gone as high as 53%.” The statistic underscores how the shutdown, triggered by a congressional impasse over federal spending and border security funding, has rippled far beyond Washington, D.C., directly into the daily lives of millions of air travelers.
As of Friday morning, twelve critical air traffic control facilities were operating with insufficient personnel. The list includes major airport control towers at Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW), Newark Liberty International (EWR), and Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)—three of the nation’s busiest hubs. Beyond towers, approach and departure control centers in Houston and Southern California were also short-staffed, as were high-altitude en-route centers near Atlanta, Denver, and New York. These facilities manage the complex choreography of aircraft climbing, descending, and cruising at high altitudes across vast swaths of American airspace.
Since the shutdown began on October 4, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has logged 222 separate instances of staffing shortages—a figure more than quadruple the 52 shortages reported during the same period in 2024. The surge reflects not only the immediate impact of unpaid essential workers but also a deepening morale crisis among the roughly 10,800 air traffic controllers who remain on duty despite receiving no compensation.
“These men and women are required to show up and perform one of the most high-stakes jobs in the world,” Duffy said, his voice measured but firm. “But their paycheck is going to be a big fat zero.” He warned that the financial strain—mortgages, car payments, childcare, and groceries—inevitably seeps into the control room. “You can’t separate personal stress from professional performance when lives are on the line,” he added.
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), issued an even starker assessment in a statement released concurrently with Duffy’s briefing. “Each day the shutdown continues, tomorrow becomes less safe than today,” Daniels declared. “Fatigue, distraction, and burnout are not theoretical risks—they are human realities when people work without pay.”
The payroll calendar has become a ticking clock. Controllers received partial paychecks on October 14 for hours worked prior to the shutdown. But the first full $0 paychecks are slated for October 28, a milestone that NATCA fears could trigger resignations or sick-outs. “We’re already seeing controllers call in unavailable because they can’t afford gas to get to work,” Daniels said in an interview with The New York Times. “How long before that becomes a cascade?”
The FAA’s contingency plans are equally sobering. Secretary Duffy confirmed that if staffing shortages persist or worsen, the agency will be forced to throttle operations. “Safety comes first,” he emphasized. “We will reduce takeoffs and landings, or cancel flights entirely if we don’t have enough controllers to maintain separation standards.” Such measures—known in aviation parlance as “ground delay programs” or “airspace flow restrictions”—could ground thousands of flights daily, stranding passengers and hammering airlines already reeling from fuel costs and post-pandemic recovery.
The list of affected facilities grew longer throughout the week. In addition to the twelve sites flagged on Friday, controllers at Austin-Bergstrom International, Chicago O’Hare, Nashville International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Los Angeles International, and several others reported shortages in internal FAA logs obtained by Reuters. At O’Hare, one of the world’s busiest airports, a single controller was overheard on live ATC audio telling a pilot, “We’re down three positions tonight—expect holding.”
Perhaps the most alarming long-term threat lies not in today’s delays but in tomorrow’s workforce. The FAA’s training academy in Oklahoma City, which produces the next generation of controllers, is itself caught in the shutdown’s financial vise. Trainees, classified as federal employees, are now working without pay. “They’re walking away,” Duffy said bluntly. “Some have already left for jobs in the private sector. If this continues, it could be cataclysmic.”
The United States currently faces a structural shortfall of approximately 3,000 certified air traffic controllers, a gap that predates the shutdown but has been exacerbated by retirements, medical disqualifications, and recruitment challenges. The FAA had projected hiring 1,800 new controllers in fiscal year 2025 to close the gap gradually. But with the academy’s pipeline disrupted, that timeline is now in jeopardy. Each controller requires between two and three years of rigorous training before earning full certification—a timeline that cannot be compressed without compromising safety.
Airlines, for their part, are bracing for impact. American Airlines, which operates a major hub at DFW, reported 187 cancellations and 1,204 delays on Thursday alone, according to FlightAware data. Delta Air Lines, based in Atlanta, issued a travel waiver for passengers booked through November 1, citing “potential government shutdown impacts.” United Airlines told investors in a regulatory filing that prolonged ATC disruptions could shave up to 2 percentage points off fourth-quarter revenue.
Passenger frustration is palpable. At Newark Liberty, where delays averaged 90 minutes on Friday afternoon, travelers formed lines snaking through terminals. “I’ve been here since 6 a.m.,” said Maria Lopez, a nurse trying to return to Miami after a conference. “They keep saying ‘staffing issues,’ but nobody explains what that means. Are we safe up there?”
Aviation safety experts echo the concern. Dr. Deborah Hersman, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told NPR that unpaid controllers represent a “latent risk” to the system. “Human performance degrades under financial stress,” she said. “History shows us that when controllers are distracted or fatigued, near-misses increase.” The FAA’s most recent public near-miss data, from summer 2025, already showed a 23 percent year-over-year uptick—before the shutdown began.
Political finger-pointing has done little to resolve the crisis. House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, insist that any spending bill must include $25 billion for border wall construction and asylum restrictions. Senate Democrats, holding a slim majority, refuse to advance legislation without protections for 800,000 DREAMers and funding for disaster relief. President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, called the shutdown “a necessary purge of wasteful spending” and blamed “radical Democrats” for aviation woes.
Behind the rhetoric, the human toll mounts. In Philadelphia, a controller identified only as “Mark” spoke anonymously to ABC News outside the press conference. “I’ve got two kids in college,” he said. “My wife’s picking up extra shifts at the hospital. We’re burning through savings. How long can this go on?” Mark described working a six-day stretch with mandatory overtime, managing 400 aircraft per shift. “One mistake,” he said, “and it’s not just my job—it’s lives.”
The Department of Transportation has activated emergency protocols, including cross-training managers to fill controller slots and prioritizing military and medical flights. But these are stopgaps. The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization employs roughly 14,000 controllers when fully staffed; current estimates suggest the active workforce has dipped below 10,500 due to absences and resignations.
International comparisons offer little comfort. Canada, which faced a brief ATC staffing crunch in 2019, resolved it within days through emergency funding. Europe’s Eurocontrol maintains a centralized reserve of controllers that can be deployed across borders. The U.S. system, by contrast, relies on facility-specific staffing with limited flexibility.
As night fell on Friday, the Philadelphia skyline flickered beyond the press room windows where Secretary Duffy fielded questions. A reporter asked whether the FAA could guarantee no shutdown-related accidents. Duffy paused. “We are doing everything humanly possible,” he said. “But I cannot promise perfection when the system is bleeding.”
Outside, the hum of jet engines continued—thousands of flights still aloft, guided by controllers who had not seen a paycheck in weeks. For now, the skies remain open. But with each passing day of the shutdown, the margin for error narrows, and the cost of political gridlock climbs ever higher.
