Airlines brace for third day of flight delays as shutdown persists

By David Shepardson

BALTIMORE (Reuters) -Major U.S. airlines are bracing for a third straight day of delays on Wednesday as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration faces higher-than-normal staffing issues for air traffic controllers as the stalemate over funding the government continues.

There were nearly 10,000 flight delays in total on Monday and Tuesday, with many tied to the FAA slowing flights because of air traffic controller absences at facilities across the country as the government shutdown reached its eighth day. Air traffic control staffing issues during this shutdown have emerged earlier than the last major halt to government funding in 2019, during U.S.President Donald Trump's first term, leading to unexpected shortages in cities around the country.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore and congressional Democrats called for the shutdown to end at Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Wednesday, noting that air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay. Moore, a Democrat, said President Trump "could not close a deal" to keep the government open.

Representative Kwiesi Mfume, a Democrat, called for supplemental legislation that would continue to pay air traffic controllers during a shutdown.

"People are beginning to worry now about flying and we should as a nation never get to that point," he said.

In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.

Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn up for work during the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. Controllers are set to receive a partial paycheck on October 14 for work performed before the shutdown.

"Our BWI workers are still here," Moore said. "They're doing it because they're patriots. They're doing it because they know that this work matters."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday that the FAA had seen a slight increase in controllers taking sick leave and air traffic staffing has been cut by 50% in some areas since the shutdown started last week.

The U.S. has faced air traffic control shortages for more than a decade, and many controllers had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)