The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is warning that air traffic will be made less safe by the government shutdown, which forced air traffic controllers on Tuesday to miss their first paychecks.
“America’s air traffic controllers are now having to focus on how they put gas in the car, how do they take care of their children, how do they pay for child care,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said during a Tuesday news conference, as reported by The New York Times.
“That makes the system less safe,” he added.
In the last month, travelers have suffered from flight delays due to air traffic controllers calling out from work.
Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox Business Network that the share of delays stemming from staffing issues has jumped from its typical mark of 5 percent to 53 percent amid the shutdown.
“Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time.And I’m watching air traffic controllers going to work,” Daniels said at the press conference, according to CBS.
“I’m getting the stories. 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. That’s the end,'” he added.
Some air traffic controllers have begun to moonlight on second jobs to provide for their families while others have encouraged airline passengers to call members of Congress to advocate for lawmakers to end the government shutdown.
“There’s no question that the shutdown will only set us backwards,” said Erik Hansen, senior vice president and head of government relations for the US Travel Association, according to CNN.
“The real risk is that it will do irreparable harm to our efforts to hire more air traffic controllers and to modernize air traffic control.”
