Overview
- This past weekend was the worst for controller staffing since the lapse began, with 98 FAA facilities hitting staffing triggers that forced reroutes and slower flows.
- Newark faced a ground stop and arrivals capped to as few as 20 per hour, and FlightAware logged more than 5,000 U.S. delays Sunday and over 500 cancellations, with further disruptions on Monday.
- The FAA says nearly 13,000 controllers are working without pay, about half of the Core 30 facilities are short, and nearly 80% of controllers were absent at New York–area sites on Friday.
- Duffy says flights will be slowed or stopped to preserve safety, while roughly 50,000 unpaid TSA officers are fueling long checkpoint lines, including multi-hour waits in Houston.
- Airlines and the controllers’ union are urging Congress to pass a short-term funding bill as the shutdown magnifies a preexisting deficit of roughly 3,000 controllers ahead of the holiday travel period.