Air travel across the United States hit another rough patch as the government shutdown stretched on and President Trump pushed hard for air traffic controllers to return to work.
The trouble began when many controllers, working without pay, started missing shifts. Some couldn’t make it because they needed second jobs or couldn’t afford childcare. Others were simply burned out after long weeks of mandatory overtime. With fewer controllers on duty, flights were delayed or cancelled in big numbers: over a million passengers were affected across a bad weekend, and airlines reported thousands of cancellations and delays.
On social media, Trump ordered controllers back to work “NOW,” warned he would dock pay for anyone who didn’t return, and promised $10,000 bonuses for those who kept showing up. He also said he’d welcome the resignations of any who refused. Administration officials later shrugged when asked how the bonuses would be paid or how pay could be withheld under the unions’ contracts “I don’t know I’ll get it from someplace,” the president told Fox News.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been struggling even before the shutdown: it was already about 3,500 controllers short of its ideal staffing level. During the shutdown, absences jumped on peak days, 20% to 40% of controllers were missing at the nation’s 30 busiest airports. By the weekend, almost 100 control centres were reporting staffing problems, and the FAA put limits on flights at dozens of airports, including New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Private plane traffic was also halted at some hubs.
The disruption was massive: on the worst day this month nearly 3,000 flights were cancelled and more than 11,000 delayed. Airlines said millions of customers were affected over the weekend alone, and the industry warned that returning to normal would take time, even if the shutdown ends. Stocks of major carriers dipped after the president’s post.
Lawmakers voted late Monday to advance a deal that could end the shutdown, but it still needed final approval and airlines were urging Congress to move fast, especially with the busy Thanksgiving travel season coming up.
Union leaders and transportation officials pushed back on the president’s tone. The head of the air traffic controllers’ union thanked workers for sticking with their jobs and said controllers would keep doing their duty. Some members of Congress criticized Trump’s comments as unfair to people working without pay.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has tried several fixes: keeping veteran controllers from retiring, speeding up hiring and pushing a multibillion-dollar plan to modernize systems. But unions and airline executives warned those are long-term fixes for now, travelers, airport workers and controllers are left waiting for the shutdown to end so normal flight schedules can resume.
