[Photo Credit: Reuters]

More than 13,000 U.S. air traffic controllers face rising stress and financial insecurity after Tuesday’s disbursement of what will be their last paycheck during the government shutdown, posing potential risks for air travel, the head of an employee union said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that staffing issues among air traffic controllers were to blame for 53% of flight delays since the shutdown, now in its 14th day, compared with 5% in normal times.

And as the political stalemate over government funding drags on, the potential toll on air traffic could worsen, said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Controllers, working in one of the government’s most high-stress professions with responsibility for the smooth and safe flow of air travel, also fear getting caught in the middle as both political parties point fingers at each other over the budget impasse.

Daniels met on Tuesday with Duffy at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland to talk to controllers.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been sent home and thousands more laid off, as more and more government business grinds to a halt each day without a budget deal in Congress.

Like many who work in government, controllers are missing two days of pay in the check they receive Tuesday and will not get any paycheck on October 28 if the budget standoff is not concluded.

More than 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are also working without pay.

Air traffic has already slowed at times in some cities, as many air traffic controllers called in sick, roiling air travelers.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been facing an air traffic controller staffing shortage for more than a decade, and many 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.

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.

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