LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The shutdown is also disrupting flights across the country.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Air traffic controllers are still required to come to work despite receiving zero dollars in their paychecks this week, and controllers say that is making an already difficult job even harder.
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JOE SEGRETTO: The pressure is real. We have people trying to keep these airplanes safe. We have trainees trying to learn a new job that is very fast-paced, very stressful, very complex, now having to worry about how they're going to pay bills.
MARTIN: That's air traffic controller Joe Segretto, who works at one of the busiest air traffic control centers in New York. But it's not just him. In Atlanta, our member station WABE spoke to controllers who handle traffic around the nation's busiest airport about how they're coping. Here's Wardell Williams.
WARDELL WILLIAMS: It's horrible. We've still got lives to live. We've still got mouths to feed, day care, roofs over our head, things that we need to pay for.
FADEL: To dig deeper on this, we turn to NPR's Joel Rose. Hi, Joel.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So as we just heard, air traffic controllers are now speaking up publicly. Is that unusual?
ROSE: It is, and I think it's a sign of the mounting pressure that they face as this government shutdown drags on. This week marks the first time that they've officially missed a full paycheck. Some controllers were out at airports yesterday taking their message directly to the flying public and handing out leaflets calling on Congress to end the shutdown now. The controllers' union says some have taken on second jobs in the gig economy, driving for Uber or DoorDash or Instacart. Others may be working in food service. The union says that is a minority, probably only in the hundreds of controllers. But union leaders say this is adding unnecessary stress for all controllers. And the Transportation Department says there has been an uptick in the number of controllers who are calling in sick.
FADEL: Yeah. I mean, they're doing all this work without pay. So how much is all of this affecting passengers?
ROSE: It's a good question. We have seen isolated delays at airports across the country because of staffing shortages in places like Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, Newark. But overall, delays this month have not been out of line with what is normal outside of the shutdown. The aviation analytics firm Cirium says on any given day, about 20% of all flights are delayed more than 15 minutes for a bunch of reasons, and there has not been a dramatic increase since the beginning of the shutdown. Still, there is a lot of concern about what will happen as the shutdown continues and if air traffic controllers are forced to miss another paycheck. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy held a press conference yesterday at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Here's a bit of what he had to say.
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SEAN DUFFY: Many of our controllers can make it without this first paycheck. They've been in the job for, you know, 10, 15, 20 years. They've planned for days like this. But I'll tell you this - almost every controller can't make it without two paychecks.
ROSE: Keep in mind, there was already a shortage of air traffic controllers before the shutdown. The system is more than 3,000 certified controllers short. And controllers in many places were already working six-day weeks with mandatory overtime. So it just doesn't take a big increase in sick calls to have a major impact on a system that is already fragile.
FADEL: So given all this, is it safe to fly right now?
ROSE: Yes. According to the FAA and the Department of Transportation, their top priority is keeping the system safe. But if they have to, they will limit the number of planes that are in the air in order to keep from overloading the system. So I would say, yes, it is safe to fly, but we are going to see a lot more delays and disruptions before this is over.
FADEL: NPR transportation correspondent Joel Rose. Thank you, Joel.
ROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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