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Reuters

Air travel turmoil deepened as nearly 7,000 flights were delayed in the United States on Monday, with air traffic controller absences surging as the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day.
The Federal Aviation Administration cited staffing shortages and imposed ground delay programmes affecting Newark Airport in New Jersey, Austin Airport in Texas and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Flights in the southeast were delayed earlier because of significant staffing shortages at the Atlanta Terminal Radar Approach Control.
Roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay after a budget impasse between Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats triggered the shutdown.
The Trump administration has warned flight disruptions will increase as controllers miss their first full pay cheque on Tuesday.
More than 8,800 flights were delayed on Sunday.
Southwest Airlines had 47 per cent, or 2,089, of its flights delayed on Sunday, while American Airlines had 1,277, or 36 per cent, of its flights delayed, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website. United Airlines had 27 per cent, or 807, of its flights delayed and Delta Air Lines had 21 per cent, or 725, of its flights delayed.
On Monday, Southwest had 34 per cent of flights delayed, American 29 per cent, Delta 22 per cent and United Airlines 19 per cent as of 11.30pm ET (11.30am Tuesday Hong Kong time), according to FlightAware.
A US Department of Transportation official said 44 per cent of Sunday’s delays stemmed from controller absences - up sharply from the usual 5 per cent.
The mounting delays and cancellations are fueling public frustration and intensifying scrutiny of the shutdown’s impact, raising pressure on lawmakers to resolve it.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was in Cleveland meeting with controllers on Monday, while the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union planned events at numerous airports on Tuesday to highlight the first missed pay cheque.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed pay cheques, extending wait times at some airport checkpoints. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York and Washington.
Meanwhile, federal funds that help tens of millions of Americans buy food for their families and send their toddlers to preschool could begin running dry on Saturday if Congress does not reach a deal by then to end the government shutdown.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Staffing shortages are cited in delays at major hubs as the US government shutdown nears the one-month mark


Staffing shortages are cited in delays at major hubs as the US government shutdown nears the one-month mark.


Nearly 7,000 US flights delayed in a day as controller absences surge in shutdown

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Staffing shortages are cited in delays at major hubs as the US government shutdown nears the one-month mark

Staffing shortages are cited in delays at major hubs as the US government shutdown nears the one-month mark