(NewsNation) — The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the government shutdown has led to increased resignations by those who chose the profession.
“That’s new. We’re less controllers than we were in 2019,” Nick Daniels told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo in a Monday appearance.
“We went through a 35-day shutdown,” Daniels added. “So you add that on top of the unreliable equipment, you add in people starting to resign over this to go and find different jobs instead of being in this amazing career and profession. It’s absolutely going to increase, as Secretary Duffy said.”
Airports across US feeling brunt of government shutdown
The shutdown has been a major burden on the airline industry, as the impasse between Democrats and Republicans has led to shortages of air traffic controllers, which have resulted in flight delays and cancellations at many major U.S. airports.
On Sunday, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport continued experiencing delays of two to three hours. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas also issued a ground delay with an average wait of 40 minutes.
“We have only 10,800 certified controllers, where there should be 14,633,” Daniels said.
Planes clipping each other, near misses, but disasters avoided
The shortage of controllers has also led to planes clipping each other. There have been several near misses by aircraft.
“The reasons that you hear of a ‘near’ incident or a ‘near’ miss are because they’re taking action and ensuring that these aircraft in no way hit or are in any kind of danger,” Daniels said.
“We’ve dealt with incidents every day in the system. Like at LaGuardia, we weren’t even talking to those aircraft. But when they go back and look at tapes, there are places that we can improve, things that we learn from.”
Concern over faulty equipment ‘growing’: Daniels
Along with the shortage, concerns have been raised with Daniels about the outdated equipment and system for controllers to use.
“It’s real and it’s growing,” he said. “And that’s why Secretary Duffy, myself, we share the same vision. We’ve been working with Administrator (Bryan) Bedford to actually move this system forward for once and make the true investment that was needed.”
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Daniels said Congress has shown its support for the profession, but the investment — $12.5B — is far beneath what is needed to bring the system up to standards.
“This is what air traffic controllers have been saying time and time again for over a year,” Daniels said. “Our union specifically has been advocating for a decade for fixes to staffing and fixes to equipment.”
