The government shutdown has pushed air traffic controllers to the breaking point.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy confirmed that ten percent of flights will be cancelled at 40 unspecified American airports that experience “high volume” starting on Friday, Nov. 7, assuming the government shutdown hasn’t ended by then.
The decision came after a “gut check,” Duffy explained at a press conference. It’s a strong signal that the effect the shutdown is having on air travel is starting to snowball, and that Friday’s cancellations could be the start of a logistical catastrophe on a historic scale.
Air traffic controllers are the federal employees who are normally paid money to understand the position in 3D space of every object at or near a given airport, including and endless parade of flying tubes filled with people and jet fuel.
Detailed demos of the job for laypeople make an air-tight case that it is mind-bendingly stressful. Currently, air traffic controllers are doing this job for free, and if they need money to do things like “eat” or “pay rent,” they’re scrambling to figure something else out.
So there’s been a rash of air traffic controllers “having to call in sick to go earn money elsewhere,” one anonymous air traffic controller told NPR. It’s hard to work multiple jobs, particularly if you work in a field where over 90 percent of workplaces were already understaffed before the shutdown.
