Copyright NBC10 Boston
The government shutdown is continuing to cause trouble in the skies, with delays and cancelations piling up nationwide. "It's kind of chaotic over there at LaGuardia, for sure," said Henry Vo, whose flight into Boston was delayed in New York. "A lot of the government shutdown, a lot of the pilots were saying, and then also, a lot of it's just things that were happening that were just unfortunate, to say the least." In many cases, a shortage of air traffic controllers is to blame. They've been working without paychecks during the shutdown, which is putting stress on an already strained system. "They need support, they need money, they need a paycheck," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on CBS News' "Face the Nation." Duffy acknowledged the impact on travel, saying it may get worse before it gets better. "We will slow traffic down, you'll see delays, we'll have flights canceled, to make sure the system is safe," Duffy said. Aviation experts say the Federal Aviation Administration has strict rules around staffing levels for air traffic controllers to make sure it's safe to fly. "Ultimately, what we would hope to see is not safety issues, but just more significant cuts to operations," said Seth Miller, an aviation journalist and editor at Paxex.Aero. "The FAA says, 'You know what, we're going to half capacity because we don't have enough controllers to support the whole system.'" When staffing levels drop, the FAA can slow flights or limit arrivals, which can be unpredictable. "Generally speaking, it's not an airline issue," Miller added. "The counterpoint to that is if you have an airline that has a hub at an airport that is affected more often — Delta and JetBlue, for example, here in Boston — if Boston gets more affected, then Delta and JetBlue are going to become more affected." The Department of Transportation released recent delay data showing the impact of the ATC shortage. On Friday, 64.8% of total delay minutes were attributed to staffing. On Saturday, it was 59%, and on Sunday, it was 84%. From January to September before the shutdown, that number was only at 5%. Despite issues around the country, Logan Airport has been faring well. In an email, Massport said, "We have not seen any operational impacts due to the shutdown. We would advise passengers to check with their airline for the best info on their flight."
