As more air traffic controllers miss work, U.S. transportation secretary threatens to fire ‘problem children’ controllers

People walk through Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on October 8. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

As the ninth day of the government shutdown wears on, the focus is on how many air traffic controllers show up to work tonight.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing shortages for controllers dealing with airspace in five different places Thursday evening, according to a publicly available planning document.

Bradley International Airport in Connecticut will have fewer than normal controllers from 4:25 to 8:45 p.m. ET along with Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport in Virginia from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.

Two different parts of the airspace controlled by the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center will be short-staffed from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. These areas usually deal with planes flying at higher altitudes.

Newark Approach control, which handles flights approaching or departing the airport, will be short staffed from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Delays of nearly 90 minutes are expected.

Earlier Thursday, a facility in Fort Worth, Texas was also short-staffed for about an hour.

The cause of the staffing problems was not immediately apparent, but Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said early Thursday on Fox Business a “small fraction” of controllers were “lashing out” because of the government shutdown and not going to work.

Every staffing problem reported does not always cause delays since controllers can take other actions, like routing flights to airspace with a normal complement of controllers.

Wednesday six FAA facilities had staffing shortages, including the control towers at Denver International and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where about a quarter of the flights were delayed.

“It’s a small fraction of people who don’t come to work that can create this massive disruption, and that’s what you’re seeing rippling through our skies today,” Duffy said.

He said normally about 5% of delays are caused by short staffing, but now it’s more than half of the delays.

“I think what’s happening here, 90% of the controllers, they show up, they come to work, but 10% of them are lashing out,” Duffy said, blaming Democrats in Washington for the shutdown.

Monday night, the Hollywood Burbank Airport control tower closed when too many controllers there called out sick. Tuesday, flights in Nashville were delayed and part of the air traffic control operations had to be shifted to another facility across the state when workers took unscheduled time off.

If controllers keep not showing up, Duffy will fire them, he said.

“If we have a continual small subset of controllers that don’t show up to work… they’re the problem children,” he said. “We need more controllers, but we need the best and the brightest, the dedicated controllers, and if we have some on our staff that aren’t dedicated like we need, we’re going to let them go.”

Controllers are considered essential employees and have to work during the government shutdown, despite not being paid.

It is against the law for controllers to strike or take actions like sickouts, and the air traffic controllers’ union has urged members to keep working during the shutdown.

“There are processes and procedures in place to deal with the inappropriate use of sick leave,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said responding to Duffy’s threats.

Tuesday is the next payday, and controllers will only get a partial check for hours worked before the shutdown.

Airlines monitoring impact of shutdown

The government shutdown has not had a “significant impact” on Delta Air Lines’ operations, CEO Ed Bastian told Brad Smith in an interview on “CNN Headline Express.”

There were barely any flight cancellations the first week of October, with Delta completing nearly 100% of its flight schedule, Bastian said. Delays were also infrequent, with the airline running on time for 90% of flights.

“As everyone’s well aware, the air traffic control system is already understaffed, so I think it’s difficult to speculate at this point in time, ‘is it more understaffed than normal?’” Bastian said. “We’ll keep our customers posted as always, but I do not anticipate any meaningful issues here.”

Southwest Airlines, which has a large operation in Nashville, Burbank and several of the other cities hard hit by recent staffing problems, said it is monitoring the situation.

Southwest must remain “vigilant in ensuring operational reliability” as air traffic controller staffing is “dynamic and could change rapidly at any ATC facility,” airline leaders wrote Wednesday in a company-wide memo obtained by CNN.

“To date, while we’ve experienced a few manageable delays and cancellations related to the shortages,” it said. “We’ll continue to adjust our schedule, as needed and under the direction of the FAA, to help maintain the safety of our customers and employees.”

United Airlines and American Airlines declined to comment, directing CNN to the industry group Airlines for America.

“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 group said. “Aviation is the safest mode of transportation, but to maintain that the system may need to slow down.”