Washington: Nearly half of the 30 busiest airports in the United States are facing significant air traffic controller shortages, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed, as the US shutdown stretched into its 31st day, triggering widespread flight delays and cancellations nationwide.
According to the FAA, this marks the most extensive controller absence since the shutdown began on October 1. The New York region has been particularly hard hit, with 80 percent of air traffic controllers unavailable, the agency said.
At least 35 FAA facilities, including several at the nation’s largest airports, have reported staffing problems. Affected airports include those in New York, Austin, Newark, Phoenix, Washington, Nashville, Dallas, and Denver, where some delays exceeded one hour or more.
Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks, ensuring the safety of more than 50,000 daily operations across the national airspace system (NAS).
As we head into this weekend, a surge in callouts is straining staffing levels at multiple…
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) November 1, 2025
About a month without pay
The US shutdown has left 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers working without pay, creating mounting operational strain across the aviation system.
“After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue. The shutdown must end so that these controllers receive the pay they’ve earned and travelers can avoid further disruptions and delays,” the FAA said in a statement.
While the full impact could have been worse, Halloween evening air traffic was 20 percent lower than average, slightly easing the pressure, airline officials said. Despite this, more than 5,600 flights were delayed and 500 canceled nationwide, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.
At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, about 50 percent of flights were delayed and 12 percent canceled, with delays averaging 140 minutes. Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport reported delays for roughly a quarter of its flights.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that further disruptions are expected as the shutdown continues. “Coming into this weekend and then the week after, I think you are going to see even more disruptions in the airspace,” Duffy said.
The FAA’s statement followed another day of nationwide air travel chaos. On October 30, air traffic control staffing shortages disrupted flights at Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Washington DC, with FlightAware reporting 7,300 flight delays and 1,250 cancellations across the US.
Major airlines, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines, have joined the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) in calling on Congress to pass a ‘continuing resolution,’ a temporary funding measure that would allow the government to reopen while budget negotiations continue.
Nick Daniels, President of NATCA, echoed those calls, urging lawmakers to take immediate action. The US shutdown, now entering its fifth week, began after Congress failed to pass a federal funding bill due to disagreements over healthcare policy.
Republican lawmakers are pushing for a ‘clean’ funding bill with no additional measures attached, while Democrats are insisting on including talks to extend healthcare subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
Airlines have repeatedly warned that the prolonged US shutdown poses risks to aviation safety and public confidence, especially as the crisis worsens existing staffing shortages. Industry experts caution that continued disruptions could mirror the severe travel chaos that contributed to the end of the 35-day government shutdown in 2019, the longest in US history.
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