Flights into airports serving New York, Denver, and Los Angeles experienced delays Monday night due to air traffic controller shortages, hours after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the government shutdown could disrupt flying.
Delays began late afternoon at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, where incoming flights were delayed nearly an hour on average, and at Denver International Airport, where arrivals faced approximately 40-minute delays.
Hollywood Burbank Airport near Los Angeles later reported average incoming delays of about 2½ hours, according to Federal Aviation Administration advisories. The Burbank air traffic control tower had no controllers working Monday night, with incoming flight management transferred to counterparts at Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control in San Diego, one of the world’s busiest air traffic facilities.
Kurt Duffens, 69, learned of the unmanned tower while waiting for his ride after flying from Portland, Oregon, realizing the situation occurred during his flight. “I wouldn’t have flown,” Duffens said. “I actually would’ve gone to LAX had I known.”
The delays resulted from staffing shortages, according to FAA advisories, following Duffy’s warning that air service could be disrupted by the government shutdown. “If we think there’s issues in the airspace, we will shut it down,” he said. “We will close it down. We will delay.”
Air traffic controllers must work through the shutdown but will only receive retroactive payment when it ends.
During the 2019 government shutdown, controllers at important facilities called in sick at high rates, contributing to widespread flight delays and hastening that shutdown’s end. Duffy said Monday that officials observed a “slight tick-up” in controller sick calls since the current shutdown began last week.
The FAA slowed traffic at the three airports Monday using a “ground delay program,” a traffic management tool holding flights from departing other airports if headed to locations with limited capacity.
The FAA has issued numerous ground delays for Newark due to staffing shortages and runway construction this year and also implements ground delays when airports face bad weather and other factors. Flights into Boston’s Logan International Airport also experienced delays Monday because of runway construction.
Duffy stated Monday that a federal program subsidizing flights to rural areas would exhaust funding by Sunday unless the shutdown ended, threatening service.
The situation affects passengers traveling through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where connections to affected airports may experience cascading delays as the controller shortage impacts the national air traffic system.
