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Staffing shortages continued Wednesday at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control centers—leading to a temporary ground stop at Newark Liberty International Airport. Newark Liberty International Airport had a ground stop Wednesday afternoon due to staffing issues. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic advisory issued at 3:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday listed staffing triggers—alerts indicating insufficient personnel —at three FAA control facilities. These included the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Area C, responsible for the sequencing and separation of planes at Newark; the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) Area D, which controls flights in the airspace over parts of Pennsylvania; and the Indianapolis ARTCC Area 5, which controls enroute flights over multiple Midwestern states. Shortly after 3 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, the FAA issued a ground stop at Newark due to staffing, and also flagged potential ground stops or ground delays Wednesday at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after 4 p.m. EDT, and at Dallas and Washington’s Reagan National until 10 p.m. EDT. As of 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, there were more than 2,700 flight delays, according to FlightAware, joining the 21,000 flights delayed this week between Sunday and Tuesday, or roughly 15% of all flights over the three days. Saturday saw staffing triggers at 22 air traffic control facilities, the highest number since the shutdown began, which Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News was “a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.” Why Are Air Traffic Controller Absences Expected To Increase? Air traffic controllers received their first “zero paychecks” on Tuesday. During the 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019, missing the first paycheck was an inflection point when controllers began calling out of work more often—sometimes to take a temporary second job while they are not paid. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has acknowledged a noticeable rise in staffing triggers as the shutdown has dragged on. “We have more people calling in sick, more people not showing up for work,” Duffy told “Sunday Morning Futures” viewers over the weekend. When Will Air Traffic Controllers Receive Back Pay? By law, air traffic controllers will have their back-pay restored after the funding lapse ends—although President Donald Trump suggested earlier this month that might not happen. During an appearance on Fox Business on Oct. 9, Duffy told host Stuart Varney his agency would not pay air traffic controllers who call in sick, adding that workers would be paid after the shutdown ends “for the time that they put in.” A veteran air traffic controller told Forbes, “The absolute last thing you want to say to these guys is, ‘hey, we're just not going to pay you,’” noting that he and his colleagues are trained to work in specific facilities that require knowing the airspace as well as hundreds of radio frequencies. “You just cannot replace these guys” with other controllers, he said. With no end in sight to the shutdown, "we're talking to our coworkers about how to get zero-interest loans," Mike Christine, a regional vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing controllers, told Reuters. Further Reading TSA Screeners Face First Missed Paycheck Friday—Expect Longer Airport Lines Starting This Weekend (Forbes) Got a tip? Share confidential information with Forbes. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
