The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is exacerbating the already dire situation at control towers across the nation, a retired air traffic controller said.
While the Federal Aviation Administration said it will reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 high-volume markets to maintain safety amid the shutdown and ongoing air traffic control staffing shortages, Stephen Abraham, who worked as a controller at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York for over two decades before retiring, said the move is more like a Band-Aid to prevent a meltdown.
“It doesn’t solve the crisis, it just prevents a complete meltdown,” said Abraham, who said staffing hasn’t been adequate in decades.
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“They’re really overworked. They’re fatigued,” Abraham said.
Air traffic controllers are classified as essential workers, meaning that they are required to keep working even when the government isn’t funding regular operations. They’ve now gone more than a month without a paycheck.
Stress and fatigue rise because controllers are already working long hours with staffing shortages, and now they’re worried about bills and financial survival, which means some may call out sick or take unscheduled leave – not necessarily out of protest, but because they’re exhausted, mentally strained or dealing with financial hardship.
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“If you don’t sleep real well, I’m not going to work the next day,” he said. “It’s really just that simple because you can’t mail it in. It just doesn’t work in that profession. You can’t mail it in… every day has to be an ‘A’ day. You don’t get ‘B’ days.”
And with no back-up staff, it’s creating “an untenable situation,” Abraham said.
More than 3.2 million airline passengers have been impacted by delays or cancellations attributed to staffing shortages tied to air traffic controller staffing issues since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, industry trade group Airlines for America said.
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The issues have become so significant that Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said on Instagram that he highly recommends travelers buy an extra ticket.
“If you are flying Friday or in the next 10 days, and need to be there or don’t want to be stranded, I highly recommend booking a backup ticket on another carrier,” wrote Biffle.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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