Flight delays at Sky Harbor, other airports may be just a taste of shutdown woes

WASHINGTON – A week into the government shutdown, staffing shortages among air traffic controllers have begun to hit travelers, though airlines and federal officials say the impact has been relatively small so far.

At Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport – a hub for American Airlines and a base for Southwest Airlines – more than 100 flights were delayed by late afternoon Tuesday, according to data from FlightAware.

Despite five flights canceled by midday and dozens already delayed, airport spokesman Greg Roybal downplayed the disruption, saying the airport “does not anticipate many visible impacts to operations in the short term.”

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Air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown – 13,294 of them, according to the Department of Transportation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that there had been a “slight tick up” in controllers calling in sick.

“You’ll see delays that come from that,” he said during a stop Monday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Newark was one of several airports that experienced ground delays Monday due to staffing shortages, along with Denver International.

Phoenix was one of four airports nationwide listed by the Federal Aviation Administration in an advisory Monday night regarding potential impacts from staffing shortages. The FAA also listed eight regional centers facing staff shortages that made it unsafe to handle a standard amount of air traffic.

California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport had to close its air traffic control tower for nearly six hours on Monday due to lack of staff.

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Arizona resident Ryan Relken, arriving from Detroit, said he didn’t experience any delays and his flight landed on time in Phoenix. But, he said, controllers have only been working for a week without pay.

“I don’t think the ripple effects have been felt yet, especially when it starts to hit people’s paychecks,” he said. “Hopefully, the government gets this figured out quickly, because those people deserve to be paid, too.”

Airlines for America, which represents major U.S. carriers, acknowledged the shutdown has impacted air travel and the impacts could get worse.

“When federal employees who manage air traffic, inspect aircraft and secure our nation’s aviation system are furloughed or working without pay, the entire industry and millions of Americans feel the strain,” the association said in a statement.

The FAA’s shutdown plan called for furloughing 11,000 employees while requiring air traffic controllers to continue working without pay.

Transportation Security Administration officers and Customs and Border Protection agents – who fall under the Department of Homeland Security – are also deemed essential and required to show up for work.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union that represents nearly 20,000 controllers and other aviation safety personnel, emphasized that essential workers have a duty to report to work regardless of the shutdown.

“Participating in a job action could result in removal from federal service,” the union posted on its website’s homepage.

Southwest Airlines said it was staying in close contact with the FAA and would “continue to adjust our schedule to safely accommodate challenges due to air-traffic constraints.”

Staffing shortages have long plagued the U.S. air traffic control system. Mandatory overtime has been a chronic complaint.

During the last government shutdown, which lasted 35 days in late 2018 and early 2019, six air traffic controllers called out sick at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, resulting in 600 delayed flights.

With reporting from Laura Daniella Sepúlveda in Phoenix.

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