By Zoe Sottile, Aaron Cooper, Pete Muntean, CNN
(CNN)- The shortage of air traffic controller workers worsened over the weekend as the country’s government shutdown entered its fourth week, causing delays and anxiety, and experts say it won’t get better until air traffic controllers get paid.
More than 50 staff shortages have been reported since Friday morning, causing delays from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, according to operational updates. Controllers are considered essential workers, so they must work during the shutdown, but they are not being paid.
Flights to Los Angeles International Airport were temporarily halted Sunday due to a staffing shortage at Southern California TRACON, which handles incoming and outgoing flights. At Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, a staffing shortage caused flight delays Sunday that were expected to last until midnight.
Since October 1, at least 264 cases of staffing problems have been reported at FAA facilities. This is four times more than the 60 problems reported on the same dates last year.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday controllers are being “stretched thin” and calling in sick because they are working without pay for difficult, complex work.
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1 after lawmakers failed to reach a spending agreement, has left thousands of other federal workers unpaid or furloughed and raised the prospect of a possible interruption in food aid scheduled to begin next month for millions of Americans.
“Just yesterday … we had 22 staffing triggers,” he said on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures.” “This is one of the highest we’ve seen in the system since the shutdown began.”
Chad Mourning, an assistant professor of computer science at Ohio University who is an expert in aviation security, told CNN he expects the shortages to continue and get worse as shutdowns extend, “because people can only do so much over time before they get fatigued.”
During the previous shutdown, air traffic controllers and TSA agents were not reporting for work, triggering breaking point.
The government imposed a shutdown for 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019. The shutdown ended after 10 air traffic controllers stayed home, disrupting air traffic — though TSA staffing shortages at some of the nation’s largest airports were also a contributing factor.
nationwide delays
Not every staffing problem causes delays: air traffic controllers can route flights to airspace where more people are working. But sometimes there is no option but to slow down flights so that incoming controllers can maintain safety.
There were more than 6,000 delays to flights in or out of the U.S. on Sunday for all reasons, including staffing problems and weather, according to FlightAware, with 27% of American Airlines flights delayed.
Since the beginning of the shutdown, more than 50% of flight delays on the worst days have been caused by problems with air traffic control staff, Duffy said at a news conference Friday.
Mourning said delays can happen quickly due to the tight nature of the airport’s schedule.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, some travelers said the shortage has caused concern.
A passenger named Connie told CNN she was “flying with full confidence today.”
“If I didn’t get paid, I would get very angry, which would make it difficult to do my job,” she said. “I hope someone is taking care of them.”
Another traveler, Dylan Cousins, called for an end to the government shutdown.
“I think they probably need to reach an agreement and reopen the government,” he told CNN. “There are a lot of things that need to be accomplished and they need to figure out how to get it done.”
serious work
Moring said the role of air traffic controllers is important because of how many flights fly each day in the United States.
For example, at Hartsfield-Jackson alone, approximately 800,000 activities – takeoffs or landings – occur each year.
“There are a lot of airplanes out there, so we need someone to keep an eye out if two planes are trying to land on the same runway,” he said. Controllers also control the ground speed of aircraft.
Mourning explained that unlike a car, a fixed-wing aircraft cannot stop in the sky while it waits for traffic to clear. That’s why the work is so important, he said.
And it requires a high level of diligence on the part of controllers.
“It’s an intense, hyper-vigilant job,” he said. Controllers are required to retire at the age of 50.
The current staffing problems come amid a decades-long major shortage of controllers, caused in part by stressful working conditions and tight schedules.
“We’ve had a lot of complaints from air traffic controllers, and now you add on the fact that they’re not being paid and there’s no real end in sight to the shutdown,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis who studies labor organization.
Small defects can cause big delays
This is not the first time air traffic controllers have engaged in what Rosenfeld called “sickouts.”
Controllers are prohibited by federal law from engaging in organized job activities such as strikes. “Calling in sick is the kind of solution” we see when there is friction between employees and employers, Rosenfeld said.
And because there are relatively few air traffic controllers in the United States, even a “handful” of people calling in sick at major airports can cause delays.
“Air traffic controllers are a real pivot in the economy and their actions, even a very small number of them, can cause real pain,” he said.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement that it “does not endorse, support, or condone any federal employee participating in or supporting any coordinated activity that negatively impacts the ability of the NAS, or any other activity that undermines the professional image and reputation of the people we represent.”
“Participating in on-the-job action may result in removal from federal service,” the statement said.
Since controllers aren’t getting paid consistently, Mourning and Rosenfeld said they see no reason to continue taking the cut.
“Certainly we should expect to see more air traffic controllers calling in sick,” Rosenfeld said. He said some controllers are reportedly looking for other jobs to earn their living. Early-career air traffic controllers in particular, who have lower salaries, may be struggling, he said.
He described the controllers as “a very understaffed and overworked group of employees” even before the shutdown.
With no sign of the government shutdown ending any time soon, Mourning said flying is still safe — it just may take a little longer for passengers to get where they’re going.
“The system sorts itself out,” he said, “but expect delays, OK? If you need to be somewhere on a deadline, maybe tell the people who are expecting you to wait.”
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CNN’s Rafael Romo contributed to this report.
