WASHINGTON, D.C.: An aircraft takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport behind the Washington Monument on 28 October 2025 in Washington, D.C. A nationwide staffing shortage of air traffic controllers has led to many flight delays since the government shutdown on 1 October. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Staff Shortages Delay, Ground Some U.S. Flights as Government Shutdown Drags on

By Claire Meyer

5 November 2025

Frontline aviation workers are missing paychecks and cannot always afford to get to work, resulting in increased delays and travel security risks as the U.S. government shutdown stretches into its second month.

Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are among the 700,000 federal workers considered essential and required to work without pay while the U.S. federal government is shut down in a budgeting gridlock.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned of “mass chaos” if the government shutdown continues. In a press conference on 4 November, he said that parts of the U.S. airspace may need to be closed because of a lack of available air traffic controllers. Duffy did not clarify the portions of U.S. airspace that might be affected.

Up until now, travel disruptions tied to staffing and the government shutdown have been limited, helped by typically low travel rates in October. But with the holiday travel season approaching and workers facing more than a month without pay, the system is showing signs of distress.

This past weekend, a “surge in callouts” strained air traffic control staffing levels at multiple airports, according to a 31 October Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) post on X.

“After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue,” the post said.

Most controllers are working mandatory overtime six days a week during the shutdown, NBC Chicago reported. Meanwhile, some frontline airport workers are finding second jobs to make ends meet during the shutdown, and they might call off airport work to pick up paying shifts, Duffy said.

Nearly half of the nation’s major air traffic control facilities are operating below recommended staffing levels, according to the FAA.

The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, told CNN that the longer the shutdown drags on, the more risks are introduced into the air travel system, especially as controllers are overtaxed by staff callouts and distracted by financial stressors while they try to monitor air traffic.

As TSA workers receive their first $0 paycheck, acting TSA Coordinator, Adam Stahl addresses concerns about airport security and shares advice on how early travelers should arrive amid the ongoing government shutdown. pic.twitter.com/tqOeyaNbou
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) October 28, 2025

Meanwhile, TSA officials are also feeling the strain. Increased callouts among frontline security screening workers have resulted in long lines at airports around the country. At Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, passengers could spend up to three hours getting through TSA checkpoints.

Travelers also face flight cancellations, as well as significant delays. Nationwide, more than 5,000 flights were delayed on Sunday, 2 November. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said that staffing shortages accounted for 84 percent of all flight delay minutes on Sunday, compared to just 5 percent from before the government shutdown began, The San Francisco Chronicle rep orted.

Ground delays of up to five hours were scheduled yesterday at airports in Houston due to staffing shortages. Aircraft were held on the ground to support traffic management, reducing the amount of traffic in U.S. airspace. DOT officials say they will continue to slow travel to maintain safety amid staffing shortages.

“We will delay, we will cancel, any kind of flight across the national airspace to make sure people are safe,” Duffy told ABC News. “There is a level of risk that gets injected into the system when we have a controller that’s doing two jobs instead of one.”

The flight disruptions and uncertainty are hitting the travel industry hard. The U.S. Travel Association, along with nearly 500 organizations and companies in the travel industry, urged congressional leadership to reopen the government ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday travel rush, noting that America’s travel economy has already lost more than $4 billion due to the shutdown. Up to 60 percent of Americans are reconsidering their holiday travel plans because of the related travel uncertainty, the association said.

“Air travel’s number one priority is safety and while safety will be maintained, travelers will pay a heavy and completely unnecessary price in terms of delays, cancelations and lost confidence in the air travel experience,” said Geoff Freeman, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO, in a press release.