Staffing shortages at major airports across the country has snarled air travel Sunday after air traffic controllers missed their first paychecks during the ongoing government shutdown.
And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that if the shutdown stretches on, it’s only going to get worse.
Driving the news: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was placed under a ground stop for flights coming from the Dallas-Fort Worth airspace due to staffing shortages, according to another advisory.
That same day, the air traffic controllers’ union president called for Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
Go deeper: Air traffic control shortages delay flights at major airports amid shutdown Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information throughout.
Due to the ongoing government shutdown, air traffic controllers missed their first paychecks, which caused staffing shortages at major airports across the nation to impede air travel on Sunday.
The big picture: The FAA reported on Friday that half of the busiest facilities experienced shortages and that nearly 80% of controllers were absent from facilities in the New York area. Additionally, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a warning on Sunday that the shutdown will only worsen if it continues.
The government is just a few days away from becoming the longest in the United States after being closed for a month. In S. its past.
Driving the news: Another advisory stated that staffing shortages resulted in a ground stop for flights from the Dallas-Fort Worth airspace at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. There has been an average of 65 minutes of delays.
On Sunday, the FAA’s high-altitude centers, which oversee airspace between cities, were affected by the staffing crisis, which spread beyond airport towers.
According to the FAA’s national operations plan, Jacksonville’s center, which oversees airspace throughout the Southeast, declared an active “staffing trigger,” potentially requiring rerouting for Atlanta, Orlando, and Miami.
Zoom out: Several U had ground delay programs in place. The S. airports because of problems with staffing as of early Sunday afternoon.
According to the FAA and New York City Emergency Management, arrivals at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey will be restricted to as few as 20 aircraft per hour. Over three and a half hours was the average delay for arriving flights.
According to the FAA, Newark’s traffic management program will continue until early Monday morning.
Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, cautioned Newark travelers via Twitter to “expect significant delays.”. In order to maintain safety, we must lower flight volumes. Duffy also accused Democrats, such as Senator from New York. Chuck Schumer as well as Rep. According to Hakeem Jeffries, once a deal is reached, airspace will resume its regular operations.
For Nashville and San Francisco, staffing-related ground stops and delay programs were also issued; however, due to the system’s difficulty adapting, they were canceled by early afternoon.
State of play: There have been 2,756 delays within, into, or out of the United States as of 2:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. For S. and 222 cancellations, per FlightAware, a tracker.
493 cancellations and more than 6,200 delays occurred on Friday. The president of the union representing air traffic controllers demanded on the same day that Congress enact a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
Duffy stated on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “if the government doesn’t open in the next week or two, we’ll look back as these were the good days, not the bad days.”.
Flashback: Due to the stress of missing paychecks, employees at the country’s airports missed more and more work during the most recent government shutdown.
The FAA was forced to restrict flights to a few large airports as a result.
Go deeper: Flights at major airports are delayed during shutdown due to a lack of air traffic control.
Editor’s note: Additional details have been added to this story over time.
