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FAA faces staffing issues amid government shutdown

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Controllers, TSA officers working without pay during

shutdown

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FAA staffing cut by 50% in some areas since shutdown began

(Updates with new flight delays, Secretary Duffy comments)

By David Shepardson

BALTIMORE, Oct 8 (Reuters) -

The Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights for a

third straight day on Wednesday at airports including Reagan

Washington National and Newark Liberty International Airport as

the agency continued to face higher-than-normal staffing

shortages.

There were nearly 3,000 flight delays by 5:30 p.m. ET

(2130 GMT) after 10,000 delays in total on Monday and Tuesday

with thousands tied to the FAA slowing flights because of air

traffic controller absences at facilities across the country as

the government shutdown reached its eighth day.

Some flights at Reagan were being forced to hold in the

air due to a slowdown in air traffic, the FAA said.

"Historically, there's about 5% of delays that is

attributed to staffing issues in our towers. Last couple days it

has been 53%," U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said

on Fox News' "Will Cain Show." "My message to the air traffic

controllers who work for DOT is show up for work -- you have a

job to do."

Air traffic control staffing issues during this shutdown

have emerged earlier than the last major halt to government

funding in 2019, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first

term, leading to unexpected shortages in cities around the

country.

"The bottom line is these controllers are stressed out,

and they're rebelling on this shutdown because they may not get

paid," Duffy said.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore and congressional Democrats

called for the shutdown to end at Baltimore-Washington

International Airport on Wednesday, noting that air traffic

controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers

are working without pay. Moore, a Democrat, said President Trump

"could not close a deal" to keep the government open.

Representative Kwiesi Mfume, a Democrat, called for

supplemental legislation that would continue to pay air traffic

controllers during a shutdown.

"People are beginning to worry now about flying and we

should as a nation never get to that point," he said.

In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by

controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks,

extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities

were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure

on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.

Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000

Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn

up for work during the government shutdown, but they are not

being paid. Controllers are set to receive a partial paycheck on

October 14 for work performed before the shutdown.

"Our BWI workers are still here," Moore said. "They're doing

it because they're patriots. They're doing it because they know

that this work matters."

Separately, Duffy said USDOT had secured $41 million to keep

the Essential Air Service program funded into early November.

Some carriers including Alaska Airlines had vowed to

continue government-subsided flights to rural or remote areas

even after USDOT warned they might not get reimbursed starting

next week.

The U.S. has faced air traffic control shortages for

more than a decade, and many controllers had been working

mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.

The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted

staffing levels.