The shortages of air traffic staff disrupted plane trips to the country on Tuesday for a second consecutive day, with delays in airports in Nashville and Chicago.
The disturbances occurred one day after the transport secretary warned that the government closure could lead to delays and cancellations, but neither the cause nor the severity of the shortages were immediately clear. The Federal Aviation Administration said in an opinion that air traffic control facilities in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Nashville, Chicago, Houston and Boston were short in the short term.
The FAA has slowed traffic at Nashville International Airport, where a ground stopping has caused delays of more than two hours, and at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where incoming flights were delayed by 40 minutes.
In a statement published online, Nashville airport said the controllers would rely on the radar systems of the airport tower on Tuesday evening due to “insufficient staff” and that the route center in Memphis – more than 200 miles from there – would take control of the approach later in the evening.
“Passengers are waiting for delays,” said the press release. “Pilots, have patience.”
Representatives of the FAA and the Ministry of Transport immediately responded to a request for comments on the nature or volume of staff shortages that had caused delays. A spokesperson for the Union of Controllers led FAA requests
The national airspace has long been in shock of an endowment crisis among air traffic controllers, because the FAA is struggling with a shortage of around 3,000 controllers.
Earlier Tuesday, the controller union published a statement saying that “it is normal that some air traffic controllers call the patients one day given, and this is the last example of the fragile of our aviation system in the middle of a national shortage of these critical security professionals.”
Air traffic controllers are required to work without salary for the duration of a closure, although a 2019 law guarantees that they will be compensated at the end. The controllers have not yet missed a pay check due to the closure and should receive a partial pay check later this month, according to union officials.
The union officials insisted that there is no effort organized among the nearly 11,000 certified controllers in the country to protest against the closure by not presenting themselves at work, and the leaders have publicly warned their members that such actions would be illegal.
Like air traffic controllers, agents of transport security administration are considered “except” personnel, which means that they are required to work when closed without salary, although they are compensated for this period once the government will reopen.
But unlike the air traffic controllers’ union, the managers of the ISD employee union seem to be a more understanding tone on the reasons why agents can be inclined to run out of work, even before they lack a payroll.
An increasing number of Safety Administration Transportation Employees were absent this week while workers are preparing for a reduced pay check on Friday, due to partial week at the start of the closure, according to officials of the US TSCIL Federation 100 of government employees, with one of the most acute examples of Philadelphia International Airport, which saw Monday.
TSA representatives did not respond to an email on Tuesday evening asking for comments on reported absences.
The union representatives have said that so far, the absences between TSA officers have not laid paralyzing logistical obstacles at airports. But they said that many workers are not paid enough to resist a prolonged closure without going into debt and warned that the situation could change once they started to miss a salary.
“Our workforce is young. There are no tens of thousands of dollars at the bank, guy, they are fortunate to have him checked, many of them,” said Joe Shuker, regional vice-president of the union based in Philadelphia.
On Monday, thefts to airports serving New York, Denver and the Los Angeles region were delayed, a few hours after Sean Duffy, the transport secretary, said the FAA would institute delays and closings if air traffic controllers were not presented for work. Duffy said on Monday that there had been a “slight tick-up” in sick calls since the start of the closure.
During staff shortages, the FAA will closely monitor the volume of demand and adjust the arrival and departure rates to ensure security, said Michael McCormick, professor of air traffic management at Aeronautical University Embry-Riddle.
