The shortage of air traffic controllers at some airports during the U.S. government shutdown may have travelers wondering if they have anything to worry about as they board their flight.
Flight delays in some parts of the U.S. have ticked up since federal funding lapsed on Oct. 1, even as controllers, Transportation Security Administration officers and other air safety personnel are required to work without pay. Previous shutdowns have resulted in a spike in TSA officers and air traffic controllers calling out sick from work, contributing to delays and flight cancellations.
Despite such inconveniences, aviation experts are confident that air travel remains safe. “There is no slacking. FAA safety standards don’t go on hiatus just because the government is shut down,” Henry Harteveldt, founder and president of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel advisory firm, told CBS News.
Flight delays due FAA staffing issues are rising because the agency is taking steps to ensure air travel remains as safe as before the shutdown, said Katy Nastro, an air travel expert at trip booking site Going.com.
“People should feel comfort that traffic is slowing, and ground delays are being put into place as an extra layer of safety, as a precautionary measure,” she said. “It shouldn’t raise a red flag in any way.”
The bigger question for travelers, Nastro added, is “What is your tolerance in terms of facing delays and such?”
Despite several aircraft collisions and some close calls this year, research shows that airline travel has become safer in recent years. The risk of a fatality from commercial air travel was 1 in every 13.7 million passenger boardings globally from 2018 to 2022, according to a 2024 MIT study. That compares with 1 fatality for every in 7.9 million worldwide boardings from 2008 to 2017.
“We slow it down”
On Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed potential safety concerns during the shutdown on Fox Business News. “We want to make sure that when you travel you travel safely, and so if we don’t have controllers necessary to keep you safe, we slow it down,” he told the network.
He also alluded to the air traffic control staffing issues and highlighted the wider impact of just a few people not showing up for work. “If you have a few controllers that call in sick, it will ricochet through the airspace, and we have delays because we are not overstaffed,” he said, adding that controllers are “incredibly frustrated” by the shutdown.
Sheldon Jacobson, an aviation security expert and professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said flight delays stemming from controller shortages are inconvenient, but do not point to a safety risk for travelers.
“I don’t think safety is being compromised, but service is definitely being compromised,” Jacobson told CBS News.
Still, Laura Einsetler, a captain for a U.S. airline, worries that a prolonged government shutdown could eventually affect the performance of air traffic controllers as they work without pay.
“How long can they go until they are distracted with stress about how they’re going to pay for rent, their mortgage or put food on table for their families?” she told CBS News. “The more they don’t get paid, the more distractions there are, and that raises the safety threat from a performance point of view.”
Trusting pilots
Scott Keyes, founder of Going.com, said some anxiety around hopping on a plane during the government shutdown is understandable. “A lot of us have an innate fear of being 30,000 feet above the ground, so any justification we can find for why flying might be more risky now is understandable,” he said.
But he emphasized that pilots have final say on whether it is unsafe to fly for whatever reason, including poor weather, mechanical problems or staffing shortages.
“They are entrusted to give that last line of authority and say things are safe to fly, and they are in constant communication with air traffic control, monitoring weather systems, and what the entire flying environment looks like,” Keyes said.
“The risk of delays and cancellations is higher today than it was before, but I don’t think that translates into a higher risk of safety accidents,” he added.
Harteveldt agreed that airline pilots — who aren’t federal employees — wouldn’t take off given any safety concerns.
“When a plane departs the gate, it’s the airline pilot inspecting the plane and saying, ‘Yes, this plane is clear to go.’ FAA inspectors, or the shutdown, have nothing to do with that,” he said.
Airlines for America, a lobbying group representing major airlines, last week sought to reassure the public that flying during the shutdown is safe, while acknowledging that control tower staffing shortages could lead to delays.
“It is safe to fly, but ATC staffing shortages strain the system and cause flights to be spaced out, slowing down everything. In some cases, flights may be delayed or even cancelled,” the group said in a statement. “The bottom line is that anyone heading to the airport right now is encouraged to pack their patience.”
