LAS VEGAS—With air traffic controllers facing their first partial paychecks within a day, the leader of the union representing the FAA’s controller workforce called on U.S. lawmakers to bring the federal government shutdown to an end in an impassioned speech here to the business aviation community.
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), warned that requiring controllers to work six-day weeks without pay due to the shutdown that began Oct. 1 will introduce risk into the national airspace system because they will be focused on making ends meet for their families.
The shutdown started because Democrats and Republicans in Congress could not agree on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act beyond 2025 in the next fiscal budget. Controllers faced a similar crisis when the government shut down for 35 days in 2018-19 when Democrats and President Donald Trump in his first term clashed over funding a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Controllers will receive reduced paychecks on Oct. 14 and no compensation by Oct. 28 if the shutdown continues, Daniels told the audience at NBAA-BACE.
“Tomorrow, the nation’s air traffic controllers will face their first loss of income because of this shutdown,” Daniels said. “Some of our lowest-paid controllers, just starting this career in some of the most high-cost-of-living areas in the entire country—instead of focusing on the stressful task at hand—will be focusing on what they can’t afford. They’ll be focused on how to do a deferred mortgage until the shutdown ends. This changes the focus in the national airspace system.”
Daniels said the nation’s controller workforce already is stretched, with just 10,800 certified professional controllers of 14,633 needed. He said he is receiving hundreds of calls and thousands of messages from controllers seeking a second job.
“Those responsible for the shutdown, one message,” Daniels concluded. “End it now. That’s my speech.”
Preceding Daniels at the podium, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said the committee is working in bipartisan fashion to allocate $12.5 billion for air traffic control system modernization contained in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump signed in July. But Graves said another $19 billion will be required to complete the transformation.
“We think we’re going to be able to do all of the telecommunications work, all of the new radar systems, all of the surface surveillance equipment that we want to install inside of the $12.5 billion,” he said. “We’ve got to find another $19 billion to do a lot of the manpower work and modernization at the FAA that we intend to do.”
