A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's been a tough week for the air traffic control system in the United States.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER #1: OK. Sunset one-zero-three (ph), stand by. We're going to be closing the tower soon, and SoCal's going to be taking control of this airport. So for now, stand by.
MARTÍNEZ: That's an air traffic controller at the Hollywood Burbank Airport on Monday explaining to pilots that the local tower was about to close because of a staffing shortage.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER #2: Ground's closed. Local's closed. The tower is closed due to staffing. Please just contact SoCal on the 800 number in the green book for your clearance.
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT #1: All right.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Some of those pilots sound surprised, as you can hear in this archived audio recording from the website liveatc.net.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PILOT #2: What the - is it because of the shutdown that you've got to close?
UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER #3: It's for staffing.
MARTÍNEZ: That led to major delays at just that one airport on Monday, and the government shutdown is only making commercial aviation issues even worse. NPR transportation correspondent Joel Rose has been following what's happening in the skies and also on the ground. Joel, what kind of delays are you seeing?
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Yeah. The Federal Aviation Administration says that staffing shortages caused delays at several airports again yesterday, including a full ground stop for a while at the airport in Nashville. Also, we saw delays at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and Dallas Love Field, and we are looking at the possibility of more delay today. You know, I should note the FAA will limit the number of planes in the air in order to keep the system safe. But that said, it is probably not a great week for getting where you need to go on time.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And how is this? I mean, can this squarely be laid on the feet of the government shutdown, or are there deeper problems?
ROSE: Yeah. There was already a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers, which has nothing to do with this government shutdown. Staffing is several thousand controllers short of where the FAA and the controllers' union say it should be. Nearly 11,000 certified controllers do have to work during the shutdown, but they do not get paid until it ends. And during the last one of these, in 2019, we saw controllers calling in sick in higher-than-normal numbers, especially once that stoppage dragged on past a month. And that caused serious delays at airports on the East Coast and may have played a key role in bringing that shutdown to an end. There has been an uptick in the number of controllers calling in sick this week, according to federal officials, and it does not take huge numbers to have a big impact on a system that is already so short-staffed.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. What about rural airports? Tell us what's happening there.
ROSE: Yeah. There is a federal program that subsidizes flights to rural airports. It's called the Essential Air Service program. The Trump administration says that program will run out of money as soon as this weekend if the shutdown continues. And that could be a big deal for the almost 170 communities around the country that are part of this program, including more than 60 in Alaska alone. I talked to Daniel Friedenzohn about this. He's a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.
DANIEL FRIEDENZOHN: It provides airline service to communities that probably would not have it. So it is important from the community's perspective, and I think that's partly why the Congress generally has been so supportive of it.
ROSE: But all that said, it is not clear exactly how much of an immediate impact this funding lapse could have. At least one major carrier, Alaska Airlines, says it will continue flights for now even without this subsidy. And it is likely that the smaller regional airlines that operate most of these flights would do the same, at least in the short run. You know, and one other thing I want to note - the White House proposed cutting more than $300 million in funding from this program earlier this year, even though the program does have broad bipartisan support in Congress.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Joel Rose. Joel, thanks.
ROSE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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