Thousands of flights in the USA canceled due to lack of payments to controllers. Donald Trump threatens
Air traffic controllers have not received their second pay due to the government funding shutdown, although they still have to work. Some of them took on extra work to make ends meet, government and trade union representatives said. This is unexpected because air traffic controllers belong to the earning elite.
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“Now they must focus on child care, not on traffic flow. On food for families, not on dividing runways,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said at a press conference on Monday, as quoted by CNBC. “Additional stress leads to fatigue, and fatigue has led to a deterioration in safety and an increase in risk with each day the lockdown continues,” he added.
Over 5 percent canceled flights
According to aviation data firm Cirium, 1,432 of 25,000 flights were canceled on Monday. 733 scheduled flights across the country, which is about 5.5 percent and the number is growing, writes CNBC.
Last week, the Trump administration ordered airlines to cut the number of flights at 40 major U.S. airports, starting at 4%. last Friday, ending with 10 percent. this coming Friday, November 14.
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“All air traffic controllers must return to work, IMMEDIATELY!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding that will recommend a bonus of PLN 10,000. hole. for all air traffic controllers who did not take leave during the closure. He added that those who did not return to work immediately would be “seconded”.
According to FlightAware, over the weekend it reached 18,000. 576 delays and 4,519 flight cancellations. The cancellations were mostly related to regional, short-haul flights – which are used by the largest U.S. airlines for about half of their domestic flights – and trunk flights.
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, according to announcements obtained by CNBC, offered flight attendants additional pay for picking up passengers. Such extra pay is common during storms and other disruptions.
Fourth worst day since January 2024.
As Cirium reports, a sign of the severity of the air traffic disruption caused by the government funding shutdown is that 2,631 U.S. flights were canceled on Sunday, which was 10 percent daily flight schedule. It was the fourth worst day since January 2024.
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The Senate made progress overnight on a deal that could end the government funding shutdown. However, it has not yet approved the financing bill.
Daniels said it's not yet clear how long it will take for auditors to receive back wages for their work. He added that during the shutdown that ended in 2019, it took about two and a half months for workers to receive their back wages.
