U.S. shutdown may have done lasting damage to air traffic control

WASHINGTON - The 35-day partial government shutdown could spur early retirements among the already thin ranks of air-traffic controllers and may postpone adoption of critical satellite-based aircraft navigation, a union official warned. It will take years to recover from the disruptions that resulted from people being kept off the job while safety-critical employees like controllers had to work without pay, Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a speech on Tuesday in Washington. “This shutdown cut us deep,” Rinaldi said. “It cut government employees deep. It cut our aviation industry deep. We’re just starting to stitch it back up. We’re not even sure what the damage really is,” reported Alan Levin for Bloomberg.

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The Intelligent Aerospace take:

January 31, 2019-While the partial government shutdown has come to an end - for now - there will likely be long-lasting ramifications in the world of air traffic control. Already short staffed, the FAA's air traffic control school was put on hold and programs and new technology were not implemented. With an agreement to re-open the government for just three weeks, and just days after the government re-opened, it's too early to tally the overall impact on the aero industry.

Related: Pilots say U.S. government shutdown threatens the safety of passengers

Related: https://www.intelligent-aerospace.com/articles/2019/01/government-shutdown-faa-delays.html

Related: Air traffic controller union sues U.S. federal government over non-payment of wages

Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace

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