"With another shutdown underway, U.S. airlines are once again bracing for the possibility of delays and disruptions to commercial aviation. "You have the reality of human beings, many of [whom] are living paycheck to paycheck," said Dennis Tajer, a longtime pilot for American Airlines, and a spokesman for the union that represents its 16,000 pilots. "It doesn't take long before the system slows down."
""It doesn't take long before the system slows down. The safety margin is always protected. But what happens is we meter the amount of aircraft that the system can hold." That's what happened on January 25th, 2019, when a shortage of air traffic controllers forced the FAA to limit traffic at LaGuardia Airport in New York, along with other major airports from Newark, N.J. to Orlando, Fla."
More than a month into the 2019 government shutdown, a slight increase in sick leave at two high-altitude air traffic facilities in Virginia and Florida disrupted major East Coast airports. A shortage of controllers led the FAA to limit traffic at LaGuardia, Newark and airports as far south as Orlando, metering flights to protect the safety margin. Airlines now brace for similar delays and disruptions during the current shutdown. The Department of Transportation will keep the FAA training academy open to meet hiring goals, but nearly 14,000 controllers must work without pay until funding resumes.
Read at www.npr.org
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