Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday said the air traffic controller shortage will experience a “ripple effect” from the government shutdown.
Duffy said while air traffic control personnel numbers are up 20 percent, those who are in training risk losing guidance from support staff amid the shutdown.
“One of the problems, the shutdown, though, is getting them through the academy. They go to towers or trade cons or centers, and they have to get trained up in the support staff that’s there to train the new controllers to get them certified. We’re having issues with the funding to keep those people employed,” Duffy said during a Tuesday appearance on CNBC.
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“So it has a ripple effect at a time when we’re trying to make up this 2,000 controller deficit. We don’t have the staff in place to actually make sure these, these young people are getting trained,” he added.
Shortages at Hollywood Burbank Airport, Denver International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey caused delays Monday amid the federal shutdown.
For nearly six hours, Hollywood Burbank Airport, near Los Angeles, had no controllers on duty.
The Transportation secretary warned that as furloughed workers continue to bear the brunt of a shutdown, it increases safety concerns for all travelers.
“They’re not just now thinking about the airspace,” Duffy said at a Monday press conference. “They’re thinking about, ‘Am I going to get a paycheck?’”
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association told The Hill on Tuesday the shortage “is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals” and said it is working with the FAA to mitigate disruptions and “supercharge” hiring of air traffic controllers.
“Nearly 11,000 fully certified controllers remain on the job, many working 10-hour shifts as many as six days a week, showing extraordinary dedication to safely guiding millions of passengers to their destinations — all without getting paid during this shutdown,” the union added.
Duffy said he would continue to advocate for the government to reopen so that controllers could receive their paychecks but encouraged critical staff to show up for their jobs daily in the meantime.
“I don’t want to see our air travel as a leverage point in this. I do think you need, you need members of Congress to come together and figure out a path forward,” the secretary said Tuesday.