If the U.S. government remains shut down through Tuesday, more than 13,000 air traffic controllers (ATCs) will receive a “big fat zero” on their next paycheck, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday.
Addressing the shutdown in remarks at Philadelphia International Airport (KPHL), Duffy said controllers received a partial paycheck earlier this month and have been notified that their next could be $0.
ATCs are among the federal government employees considered “excepted” and asked to continue working without pay during the shutdown. Each day, they oversee the safety of some 15,000 flights—and millions of passengers.
“The stress level that our controllers are under right now, I think, is unacceptable,” Duffy said.
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), joined Duffy on Friday to provide a peak behind the curtain of one of the nation’s most essential workforces. He described some controllers working 10 hours a day, six days a week, and depending on second jobs for income. The U.S. for years has been about 3,000 ATCs short of FAA staffing targets.
“Air traffic controllers have called and said, I’ve picked up a side job,” Daniels said. “I’m driving for Uber. I’m doing DoorDash. I’m doing Instacart.”
Duffy said airport employees told him that airlines are chipping in to buy food for controllers. Though President Donald Trump is reportedly exploring avenues to pay ATCs during the shutdown, it is unclear whether such a measure would survive Congress.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), said earlier this month that the added distraction of financial strain has created “increasingly unsafe” ATC working conditions. Nelson specifically called out Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, in her remarks.
Duffy on Friday acknowledged that travelers may see delays but said that air transportation remains safe, blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Daniels did not mention either political party.
“We didn’t start a shutdown,” Daniels said. “We don’t end the shutdown—our elected officials do. And our message is simple: End the shutdown today.”
ATC’s Pivotal Role
Controllers are not legally allowed to organize sick outs or other strike actions. A message that appears on NATCA’s website says as much.
“Participating in a job action could result in removal from federal service,” it reads. “It is not only illegal, but it also undermines NATCA’s credibility and severely weakens our ability to effectively advocate for you and your families.”
However, ATCs were widely credited with playing a pivotal role in ending the previous government shutdown in 2019.
The shutdown ended hours after the FAA limited flights at major airports due to a high incidence of sick leave. The disruptions were reportedly a breaking point, pressuring the first Trump administration to return to the negotiating table.
Duffy on Friday said that on a typical day, ATC staffing issues account for about 5 percent of delays. But he said that figure has persisted above 5 percent since the shutdown began, rising to as high as 53 percent. Earlier this month, Duffy noted a “slight pickup” in sick calls. He has also threatened to fire ATCs who do not show up to work.
“Some of them might be sick,” Duffy said Friday. “But I’m working close with Nick [Daniels]. We’re driving a message: I want you to show up.”
He added: “Maybe that’ll be a postmortem we can do on what happened there and why controllers made the choices that they did.”
H2: Improvements on Hold?
Exacerbating the staffing issue, according to Duffy, is a potential training logjam at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, which remains open.
The FAA in recent months has ramped up efforts to “supercharge” ATC hiring. But Duffy said that some agency academy students are “bailing” or “walking away.”
“We’re about a week to two weeks away from running out of money to pay those students, which will be cataclysmic for them,” he said. “Our instructors already are not paid, and they’re still showing up to teach.”
The FAA in September met its goal of hiring 2,000 ATCs in 2025 and hopes to add 8,900 more by 2028, per a recent staffing blueprint.
NATCA and other unions, such as Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), have also warned that the shutdown jeopardizes work on Duffy’s sweeping, three-year ATC modernization plan.
The effort—which Duffy said will require $31.5 billion—aims to replace outdated systems, such as the copper wiring credited with causing radar and communications blackouts at Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) earlier this year. It also won’t be possible without a workforce.
Per NATCA, which has been supportive of the plan, more than 2,350 aircraft certification engineers, aerospace engineers, and other safety personnel are furloughed. Without them, it said, “critical safety support, operational support, and modernization work will stop.”
PASS, which represents about 11,000 FAA and Pentagon employees, estimated about 40 percent of its members are furloughed. These workers are responsible for everything from developing flight procedures to the installation, maintenance, and inspection of ATC systems. This week, PASS said there is not enough funding for the FAA Academy to train them, which can take up to five years.
However, Duffy on Friday said that federal employees “who are working on our modernization effort for air traffic control” are among those that have continued to work.
PASS president David Spero clarified that some workers it represents, such as those upgrading telecommunications lines, remain on the job.
“However, the opportunity for PASS to engage in defining how we step up efforts to define the best practices to implement new technologies and build new facilities quickly has not yet begun,” Spero told FLYING. “We expected that would start this month.”
