Overview

• Air traffic controllers received a partial paycheck short by two days this week, and union officials warn the Oct. 28 payday could bring no pay at all.
• FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told controllers they must keep reporting for duty and said the agency is reducing traffic flows at stressed hubs, including Newark, Orlando and Nashville.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said staffing now accounts for 53% of delays, estimated roughly 10% of controllers have called in sick, and warned repeat violators of sick-leave rules could be fired.
• The controllers’ union urged members to continue reporting to work and rejected coordinated sick-outs, while chronic gaps persist such as Phoenix’s tower operating with about 33–34 of 40 positions filled.
• Training pipelines remain disrupted with new FAA Academy intakes on hold, and localized impacts range from a six-hour controller gap at Burbank to roughly 150 controllers in Hawaii continuing to work without full pay.