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Worst weekend for air traffic controller staffing since start of shutdown · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Happening now. Travel misery taking off and likely to get
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  Speaker 1: worse as the government shutdown triggers even more flight delays.
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  Speaker 1: This was the scene this morning at Bush Intercontinental in Houston.
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  Speaker 1: Long lines at security and this past weekend was the
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  Speaker 1: worst for air traffic control staffing since the shutdown began
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  Speaker 1: more than a month ago. Seeing an aviation correspondent Pete
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  Speaker 1: Mantinez here in the situation room with us. You've been
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  Speaker 1: looking through, Pete, the FAA operations plans. What will today
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  Speaker 1: and the coming days be like?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the fa just updated the list and the facility
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  Speaker 2: responsible for flights approaching Newark Liberty International Airport is short
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  Speaker 2: step today. Also the center facility responsible for high altitude
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  Speaker 2: flights around New York. Those are the two spots of
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  Speaker 2: concern so far, but history has shown that things can
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  Speaker 2: change pretty fast. It's pretty close to how Friday started,
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  Speaker 2: which kicked off the worst weekend for air traffic control
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  Speaker 2: staffing shortages since the start of this shutdown thirty four
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  Speaker 2: days ago. This is what we've been monitoring. It's called
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  Speaker 2: the FAA National Airspace Operations Plan, published every few hours,
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  Speaker 2: shows air traffic control facilities with sort short staffing and
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  Speaker 2: on a normal day, there might be one or two
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  Speaker 2: facilities here. On Friday, this was the list, forty six
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  Speaker 2: different facilities. The three New York City airports have been
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  Speaker 2: especially hard hit, and the FAA says on Friday those
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  Speaker 2: facilities saw nearly eighty percent of controllers call out and
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  Speaker 2: that is what creates the bind. And the fa says
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  Speaker 2: it has no choice in some cases but to slow
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  Speaker 2: the pace of flights and put into place delays or
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  Speaker 2: ground stops. Want you to listen now to what Transportation
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  Speaker 2: Secretary Sean Duffy said about that, Well, does it become a.
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  Speaker 3: Flight emergency of safety issue? No, we will stop traffic.
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  Speaker 3: So we're not going to let that happen. I think
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  Speaker 3: the real consequence is what kind of rolling delays do
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  Speaker 3: you have throughout the system? Right We've seen problems at LA,
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  Speaker 3: in Dallas, in DC, Boston, Atlanta, and so I think
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  Speaker 3: it's only going to get.
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  Speaker 2: Worse, Like no place is safe right now and all
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  Speaker 2: this weekend saw more than sixteen thousand flight delays nationwide. Remember,
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  Speaker 2: air traffic controllers still working without pay during this shutdown.
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  Speaker 2: That zero dollar paycheck they received just last Tuesday was
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  Speaker 2: insult to injury and definitely said on Sunday the White
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  Speaker 2: House was looking for what he calls pots of money
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  Speaker 2: to get controllers paid again, but he says the rules
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  Speaker 2: there are pretty strict. By the way, TSA agents also
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  Speaker 2: working without pay. No major surprise. On day thirty four
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  Speaker 2: of the shutdown, their delays at TSA checkpoints as well.
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  Speaker 2: This was the line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Houston.
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  Speaker 2: At one point the TSA line there stretched three hours long.
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  Speaker 2: But the TSA posted this morning that when you consider
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  Speaker 2: the wait times nationwide, they average about five minutes yesterday
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  Speaker 2: for standard screening. They said two point one to one
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  Speaker 2: minutes very exact for pre check, and they screened about
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  Speaker 2: two point seven million people nationwide. It's up about a
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  Speaker 2: percent when you consider the same time a year ago.
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  Speaker 2: The big thing here is these people have to get paid,
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  Speaker 2: and this is the human toll of this government shutdown,
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  Speaker 2: and it's having a real impact on travelers with Thanksgiving
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  Speaker 2: not far off on the horizon.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you were just traveling over the weekend, Well,
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  Speaker 1: it was OK. I was really lucky. My flight from
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  Speaker 1: lax Los Angeles to Washington Reagaan National Airports left on
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  Speaker 1: time and arrived on time, it was pretty I was
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  Speaker 1: just pretty lucky.
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  Speaker 2: It's a bit scattershot, and I hear from people who
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  Speaker 2: get hit by the delays and also people who have
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  Speaker 2: no problems. So the real thing here is when there's
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  Speaker 2: weather in the mix on top of air traffic and
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  Speaker 2: staffing shortages, that can cause the whole deck of cards
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  Speaker 2: to come tumbling down.
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  Speaker 4: And we've seen it happen.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Pete Monteine, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 4: We're joined by Nick Daniels, the president of the National
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  Speaker 4: Air Traffic Controllers Association. What are you hearing now as
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  Speaker 4: we are looking at what really looked like new images
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  Speaker 4: kind of a new situation that we saw this weekend.
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  Speaker 4: What are you hearing from air traffic controllers about what
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  Speaker 4: the weekend was like?
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  Speaker 5: The amount of stress, the fatigue, the frustration is growing
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  Speaker 5: every day. Air traffic controllers are waking up to a
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  Speaker 5: headline as there's no end in sight, and that leads
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  Speaker 5: to a level of hopelessness as well. And you know,
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  Speaker 5: there's not even as many air traffic controllers that are
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  Speaker 5: working today as there was in the twenty nineteen shut down,
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  Speaker 5: where air traffic controllers are working six days a week,
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  Speaker 5: ten hours a day, and that is that was already
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  Speaker 5: an issue that we were working on, and now every
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  Speaker 5: day that it continues, it continues to build, and it
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  Speaker 5: continues to put them in a place that is completely unacceptable.
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  Speaker 4: Can you help us visualize what it's like inside of,
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  Speaker 4: you know, a tower, when there are not enough.
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  Speaker 5: People, you start having one person take on multiple tasks
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  Speaker 5: where you would normally have that workload divided between controllers.
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  Speaker 5: They're going to go to work, they're going to do
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  Speaker 5: their job, they're going to keep everyone safe. But you
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  Speaker 5: have to start slowing down the number of aircraft that
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  Speaker 5: can go through it so one person can handle this
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  Speaker 5: level of complexity. This is the most high consequence job
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  Speaker 5: in the entire world. You're making a thousand decisions, you know,
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  Speaker 5: in just one rotation to ensure that aircraft moves safely
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  Speaker 5: in and around the airport or in the sky, and
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  Speaker 5: every single time that they have to take on an
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  Speaker 5: additional level of responsibility amidst all these other issues is
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  Speaker 5: something we have to be concerned about, something we have
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  Speaker 5: to manage.
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  Speaker 4: What are the personal financial dilemmas that they're facing right now.
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  Speaker 5: We're not only seeing air traffic controllers already reporting like
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  Speaker 5: I have no money for gas and to be able
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  Speaker 5: to get to work. They're over one month at this
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  Speaker 5: point without a level of compensation for the amazing work
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  Speaker 5: that these patriots do day in and day out, but
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  Speaker 5: also on top of that not having childcare. We're seeing
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  Speaker 5: air traffic controllers for their first time starting to resign.
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  Speaker 5: We have trainees that are resigning, and we have certified
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  Speaker 5: controllers and we're getting reports of them resigning over the
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  Speaker 5: course of this past week.
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  Speaker 4: You've called for a clean funding bill. That's right, Yes,
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  Speaker 4: you've called for a clean funding bill that at this
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  Speaker 4: point is the demand of Republicans and the White House
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  Speaker 4: as well. You're at the White House roundtable this past
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  Speaker 4: week on aviation travel and union leaders in the White
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  Speaker 4: House has said they have no intentions to meet with
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  Speaker 4: Democrats until the government is reopened. Have you been able
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  Speaker 4: to speak to Democratic House and Senate especially leadership about
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  Speaker 4: what your folks need.
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  Speaker 5: We have and our message has been consistent from the
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  Speaker 5: very beginning. One day of a shutdown was too much.
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  Speaker 5: Air traffic controllers cannot be used as a political pot
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  Speaker 5: and I can help everyone know the end of this story.
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  Speaker 5: People can't live without money. It's putting us in a
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  Speaker 5: position for an air traffic controller to have to not
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  Speaker 5: only deal with this profession, but in way going home
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  Speaker 5: and having to have the consequences of being at a
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  Speaker 5: home and trying to explain to your family that you're
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  Speaker 5: going to go into one of the most demanding jobs
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  Speaker 5: in the world and you don't know when you're going
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  Speaker 5: to get paid again. Our message is simple, open a government,
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  Speaker 5: and it has to open nowt That's the real issue,
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  Speaker 5: and that's the only way that this is going to
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  Speaker 5: be solved.
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  Speaker 4: You've been through this time and again, and the thread
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  Speaker 4: of it time and again. Now right, this is becoming
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  Speaker 4: a kind of regular thing. But I don't know that
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  Speaker 4: we've ever seen it threaten in recent history. A holiday
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  Speaker 4: season kind of at a critical point in the shutdown
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  Speaker 4: air traffics.
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  Speaker 5: We're worried about that as well.
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  Speaker 4: Talk to us about that. What happens if we get
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  Speaker 4: to the Thanksgiving travel rush and the government is still
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  Speaker 4: shut down? What does that look like.
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  Speaker 5: There's a lot of things doing this job for twenty
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  Speaker 5: three years that I can predict, or I could tell
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  Speaker 5: you and explain. I have no idea how to explain
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  Speaker 5: what it would look like if we get to the
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  Speaker 5: holiday rush and we're still dealing with a government shut down.
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  Speaker 5: The number of issues are growing daily. When air traffic
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  Speaker 5: controllers can't drive to work already and don't have gas
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  Speaker 5: or childcare, and then we're talking about it lasting all
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  Speaker 5: the way to holidays. It's not something I can sit
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  Speaker 5: here and tell the flying public America in any way,
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  Speaker 5: shape or form of what that would look like.
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  Speaker 4: Would you feel safe flying?
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  Speaker 5: I feel safe because of the hard working men and
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  Speaker 5: women that are represent They are showing up and to
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  Speaker 5: every single person that shows up each day, each moment,
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  Speaker 5: they're the ones shouldering this burden of the shutdown. And
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  Speaker 5: it's something that we have to recognize them for, is
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  Speaker 5: that they're taking on this on when it has nothing
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  Speaker 5: to do with them whatsoever. And it's again why we're
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  Speaker 5: calling this shutdown has to end now. These hard working
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  Speaker 5: Americans need to be paid.
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  Speaker 4: Do you feel safer when they're not dealing with these
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  Speaker 4: kinds of things?
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 5: Every day this continues, this system will be less safe.
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  Speaker 5: Tomorrow will be less safe than today. And because of that,
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  Speaker 5: and it's our job to communicate for the safety of
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  Speaker 5: the flying public. It's why the traffic has to reduce
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  Speaker 5: why things have to slow down because we cannot put
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  Speaker 5: these men and women dealing with this job on top
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  Speaker 5: of this prolonged shutdown.
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  Speaker 4: Nick Daniels, thank you so much for being with us.
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  Speaker 5: We appreciate it.