Updated October 9, 2025 at 5:18 AM AKDT
Air traffic controllers will continue to work under strain as the government shutdown drags on, according to the head of the union that represents them.
"What they're working under is one of the lowest-morale times in history," Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told Morning Edition.
Congress's failure to pass a spending bill has left air traffic controllers working without pay. On Monday at a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed delays at airports on a "slight tick-up in sick calls" among controllers.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Tuesday staffing shortages caused a ground stop in Nashville and delays at airports in Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Houston. On Wednesday, the FAA reported several staffing shortages, including at Reagan National Airport and its Philadelphia air traffic control facility.
When union president Daniels spoke to Morning Edition Wednesday morning, he pointed out that the number of air traffic controllers is "extremely low to begin with." While there are nearly 11,000 certified controllers, Daniels said there should be 14,633.
"Only one or two sick calls, on any given day, puts us in a position where we have to either restrict traffic, combine sectors and positions, and ultimately we have procedures to deal with this," Daniels said.
He denied that controllers were coordinating their sick days.
"It's not organized in any way, shape or form. I represent a proud group of professionals that show up to do their job each and every day. Anybody that went out and did something nefarious would be acting on their own, not because of this union," he said.
Speaking to NPR's Michel Martin, Daniels discussed how air traffic controllers are experiencing the government shutdown and the improvements that he says the air traffic control system needs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Michel Martin: Air traffic controllers are deemed essential, which means they are expected to work without pay even during a shutdown. Briefly, just describe the conditions they're working under.
Nick Daniels: What they're working under is one of the lowest-morale times in history. They're going to work. They know they're short-staffed already. The pressure that's on top of them. They work with unreliable equipment. And all those things add up to the stress and complexity of one of the most high-consequence jobs in the entire world.
Martin: Earlier this week, the Hollywood Burbank Airport near Los Angeles operated with no air traffic controllers. Their counterparts in San Diego were managing air traffic. There were delays of two and a half hours, according to the FAA. You've done this job. So how do air traffic controllers keep people safe under those conditions?
Daniels: I've done it for 25 years, and our safety is number one. And we've seen this. That was not the first time Burbank has ever closed down. That was not the first time that an airport has had to close due to staffing. There's been 1,000 occurrences this year alone that we've had an air traffic control, what we call "zero," at a facility for either equipment or for staffing. So when we have somebody else take over that airspace, controllers just can't operate at the same level of efficiency.
Martin: A thousand incidents of air traffic control towers having to close down, so far this year alone?
Daniels: Some parts of a facility – we have towers and TRACONs [Terminal Radar Approach Control] or different areas inside of an enroute facility. And yes, over a thousand occurrences where we've dealt with this very thing. It's just now front page news. And we're glad it's front page news so people can see the state of the system and why we're advocating so hard to fix it.
Martin: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talks about modernizing air traffic control. We've heard about archaic technology in the control tower, talking about floppy disks – if people even remember what that is. What happens to efforts to modernize when the government shuts down?
Daniels: The sad part is, and the reality is, we had to stop many of the different projects – or even sustaining the system as it is – leading up to the shutdown, because you had to start canceling all the travel, all the plans, all the meetings. And the air traffic controllers are focused on the job of ensuring that we get through the shutdown and in no way able to work on the projects that are coming up ahead. So every day that this lasts is just another day it's going to add on to the problem existing later. Secretary Duffy has found ways to ensure that the training continues and some of these projects go on, but they're not in full force at full speed.
Martin: During the 2019 shutdown, air traffic controllers called out sick, which caused disruptions at airports on the East Coast. I'm sure there is some dispute about just how much of a factor that was in the delay, but that pressure is believed to have helped end the shutdown. Do you think the same thing could happen here again?
Daniels: The message that I've wanted to make extremely clear is air traffic controllers don't start a shutdown. Air traffic controllers don't end a shutdown. Politicians are the only ones that start a shutdown and have the ability to end it. Air traffic controllers are going to show up and do everything we can, but the longer that this lasts, it's going to place a continued strain on air traffic controllers. The stress, the pressure. Air traffic controllers have to show up to save people's lives. And if they're not fit for that duty because they're worried about, you know, everything that's going on at home, putting food on the table, gas in the car, making sure their kids are looked after, that's something that we have to face. And it's something that's going to be real every single day that this continues and they start seeing $0 paychecks on Oct. 28.
This digital article was edited by Treye Green.
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