PHILADELPHIA – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is warning about staffing shortages at several major air traffic control towers across the U.S. on Tuesday, including the tower that controls traffic into and out of Philadelphia.
What we know:
The FAA announced expected shortages at eight towers across the country as part of their Operations Plan on Tuesday afternoon. Towers in Philadelphia, Chicago, Nashville, and Houston are all expected to be short-staffed, starting around 6 p.m. and continuing through the night.
The tower controlling flights into and out of New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Aiport, which is based in Philadelphia, was briefly on the list, but later taken off.
Now the tower controlling flights into Philadelphia International Airport will be short-staffed from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Nashville and Chicago have been the most negatively affected as of 5 p.m. A ground delay in Nashville is holding back flights by an average of more than two hours. That ground delay is expected to continue until 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. Flights to and from O’Hare are delayed on average by about 40 minutes. On the FAA’s website, the reason for both delays is listed as “other.”
On Tuesday afternoon, CNN reported that the tower at Nashville International would go dark for five hours on Tuesday night because of staffing shortages.
Ground stops are also possible at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston starting around 6 p.m. local time, according to the FAA, meaning that flights to those airports aren’t allowed in.
The backstory:
All of these delays come just one day after the tower at Hollywood Burbank Aiport in Southern California went completely unstaffed for several hours, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, leading to hours of delays.
What they’re saying:
On Monday, U.S. Transportation Sean Duffy that the government shutdown is putting stress on air traffic controllers, who are required to work without pay. Duffy said that there have been slightly more sick calls in some places since the shutdown began.
“Now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, how am I going to pay my mortgage,” Duffy said Monday. “How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home. How do I put food on the table? I’m working six days a week. Do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about how I can make extra money because the government may not provide me a paycheck?”
By the numbers:
According to FlightAware, nearly 2,500 flights were delayed within, into or out of the U.S. as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, with more than 400 flights into and out of Chicago alone.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Associated Press, FlightAware, CNN and previous FOX reports.
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