Amid the ongoing crisis in the aviation in the United States, we saw the disruption of over 8000 flights only a few days ago. The crisis hit as many as 22 US airports. This is amid the severe staffing shortages within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). government shutdown that has led Air-traffic controllers, technical specialists, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers working without pay.
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Several major airlines such as United Airlines (UA), Delta Air Lines (DL) and JetBlue Airways (B6) have are stepped in to offer free meals to air-traffic controllers and other federal aviation workers who are required to continue working without pay.
Why are US Airlines Offering Free Meals for ATCs?
This is an extraordinary scnario for US Aviation. The FAA reported that the United States has around 14,000 Air Traffic Controllers in the United States. These ATCs are responsible for the extraordinary number of planes that operate in and out of the US airspace. Here’s the scope of the US aviation that ATCs are a massive part of:
| Category | Data / Description |
|---|---|
| Flights Monitored (Peak Times) | 5,000 aircraft at any given minute (“rush hour of the skies”) |
| Flights Monitored (Low Activity Periods) | Below 1,000 aircraft between 05:00–11:00 GMT (01:00–07:00 EST) |
| Daily Passengers | 2.9 million (2019) |
| Daily Flights | Over 45,000 |
| Yearly Flights | 16,405,000 total, including over 10,000,000 scheduled passenger flights |
| Yearly Passengers | Approximately 1 billion |
| Airspace Coverage | 29 million square miles |
| Airport Traffic Control Towers | 520 |
| Air Route Traffic Control Centers | 21 |
| Air Traffic Controllers | Over 14,000 |
| Public Airports | 5,082 |
| Private Airports | 14,551 |
| Total Airports (Public + Private) | 19,633 |
| General Aviation Aircraft | Over 167,000 |
| Rotorcraft | 10,000 |
| Experimental Lightcraft | 34,200 |
11,000 of the 14,000 ATC in the United States of America missed paychecks “amounting to two weeks of compensation on Tuesday, marking the first time they’ve gone entirely unpaid since the shutdown began on Oct. 1”, reported Times magazine. As Air Traffic Control services are deemed to be “essential”, employees need to work even during the shutdown.
In our report we previously published, we quoted researchers who believed that an absence of ATC paychecks was likely to lead to graver problems for the US aviation. This is why different airlines such as Delta, United, and others have pitched in to provide solace for the ATCs by providing free food, chipping in with whatever they can.
Quoted Statements about the Airlines providing food for ATCs
| Airline | Official Statement (Quoted) | Context / Additional Details |
|---|---|---|
| United Airlines (UA) | “United is donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers whose pay is delayed. We appreciate the hardworking federal employees who are keeping the air travel system running.” | The carrier is providing meals at its hubs in:
|
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | “Delta has arranged for a limited number of meals for transportation sector workers, while operating within the strict rules established for employees of federal government agencies.” | Efforts are in compliance with federal regulations governing interactions between private companies and federal employees. |
| JetBlue Airways (B6) | “We are working with our federal partners, including local aviation officials, to offer meals at our airports as a gesture of support.” | JetBlue stated it is coordinating meal support with the following personnel stationed at its airports:
|
Source: the Quoted statements were published in CBS News
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The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, warned at a press conference at the LaGuardia airport in New York City this week that while the absence of the first paycheck might be insignificant, other missed paychecks could unfurl unprecedented problems for the ATCs:
“Many of our controllers can make it without this first paycheck; they’ve been in the job 10, 15, 20 years; they’ve planned for days like this..This is day one..Day two gets harder, [and] day three is harder after that, as expenses continue to roll [in].”
At the same press conference, Nick Daniels, the president of National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said that the equation might not be as simple as Duffy makes it seem (in a piece reported in The Guardian):
“Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time…..And I’m watching air traffic controllers going to work … They’re worried about paying for medicine for their daughter. I got a message from a controller that said, ‘I’m running out of money. And if she doesn’t get the medicine she needs, she dies.’”
It has been reported that officials in the Trump administration have explored potential methods to cover the more than $500 million in monthly salaries owed to air traffic controllers but were unable to identify any available funds. On Sunday this week, staffing shortage had resulted in nearly half of the delays reported at US airports – a figure that dropped by almost 20 % the next day. At the time of writing, the author reported the following data about the cancellation of flights in the US from Flight Aware:
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Total Cancellations (Worldwide) | 854 |
| Total Delays (Within/Into/Out of U.S.) | 4,046 |
| Total Cancellations (Within/Into/Out of U.S.) | 441 |
| Total Delays (Worldwide) | 16,437 |
There are others who have chipped in at these difficult times for the Air Traffic Controllers in the US
In a piece published in Business Insider, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Nick Daniels, said that even flight attendants, airline pilots, and even Canadian air traffic controllers have been chipping in with free food to the ATC:
- At San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Alaska Airlines pilots provided pizzas to controllers
- Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents over 80,000 pilots, has been delivering meals almost every day to affected workers, confirmed Pete LeFevre, a controller and union representative in Washington, D.C.
- The Association of Flight Attendants, representing over 50,000 crew members, also joined the initiative,
- Teamsters Local 357 — the union representing Republic Airways crew — has been delivering food to controllers in Indianapolis, where the airline is based.
What is the solution beyond providing Free meals to the ATCs?
The average salaries of ATCs in the US depend on the states, as the following numbers enunciated by Forbes suggest:
| States | Average yearly salary for ATCs |
| New Hampshire | $147,350 |
| Virginia | $139,520 |
| Illinois | $136,390 |
| Georgia | $136,210 |
| Texas | $133,260 |
| California | $132,300 |
| Minnesota | $131,330 |
| Ohio | $131,180 |
| New York | $130,840 |
| Colorado | $128,210 |
Beyond, the solace of these numbers, one has to also factor in the expenses in each states to put these into perspective. To get an idea of the statistics, in general, in the United States, refer to the table below(from the Department of Labor and Statistics):
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Job Outlook (2022–2032) | 1% (Little or no change) |
| Work Experience in Related Occupation | None |
| Typical Entry-Level Education | Associate’s degree |
| Median Pay | $137,380 per year / $66.05 per hour |
| Number of Jobs in 2022 | 23,000 |
| Employment Change (2022–2032) | 300 |
| On-the-job Training | Long-term training while working |
The job of ATCs remain integral to the world of aviation, and despite the sparkling salaries that we see above, the rising expenses in the States means that even the ones making such impressive salaries might struggle to provide costs of medication, as we noted earlier. UPI reported that the political standoff between the Democrats and Republicans was at the center of the government shutdown:
“Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., last week introduced a bill that would have provided funding for air traffic controllers, military personnel and other essential workers. Senate Democrats mostly voted against the measure, which failed to muster the 60 votes needed to pass with a final tally of 54-45 on Thursday. Only three Senate Democrats, John Ossof and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted to approve the funding bill. When the federal government eventually reopens, federal workers will collect back pay.”
For now, everyone wishes that the day when federal workers such as ATCs receive their pay come as quick as possible.