Flights to LAX were temporarily halted Sunday as the FAA cited a shortage of air traffic controllers linked to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted Sunday morning due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility.
The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed and canceled in the coming days as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown.
During an appearance on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said more controllers were calling in sick as money worries compound the stress of an already challenging job.
Might happen again at Thanksgiving.
That would be such a hilariously sad type of self harm. I don’t think the staffing has even fully recovered from the Reagan layoffs.
I would imagine it has, but… ATC training takes a few years and the ones who have stuck it out have been in those roles a long time. There is a cohort of staff who all started and will leave the service at around the same time. I would imagine they are seinor staff or managers by now in their careers, but that much institutional knowlege leaving at the same time would be just as damaging.
You would think that… But before the strike there was 14k ATC controllers, full capactity.
Right now there are currently 10,643 fully-certified air traffic controllers operating 313 federal facilities across the nation.
The total number of certified controllers required to fully staff all facilities to established staffing targets is 14,633.
The American national airspace system is 72.7% staffed with controllers. There is a deficit of 3,990 certified controllers.