OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
5:57 PM – Sunday, October 26, 2025
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a ground stop for flights heading to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) due to a shortage of air traffic controllers caused by the government shutdown.
The shutdown has entered its 26th day with no end in sight. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is leading the Democrats in their opposition to the House-passed funding bill that would have prevented a lapse in funding. Democrats in the Senate refuse to vote for the bill unless Republicans agree to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits past their expiration date at the end of the year, which GOP members of Congress argue will provide healthcare to illegal immigrants.
Due to the lapse in funding, many government employees have been furloughed or have worked without funding for the entirety of October. Airports are among the many organizations experiencing a lack of funding.
The FAA recorded more than 20 shortfalls in air traffic controllers at six U.S. airports by Sunday afternoon.
The Trump administration has warned that flight disruptions will increase as the shutdown persists.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News that the FAA had 22 “triggers” indicating shortages of air traffic controllers, which he said was “one of the highest that we’ve seen in the system.”
“This shutdown has real consequences for these hard-working American patriots,” said Nick Daniels, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), in a statement last week. “With each passing day, controllers become more distracted by the risk of receiving a zero-dollar paycheck on 28 October, despite working 40 hours per week and, in many cases, mandatory overtime due to the controller staffing shortage.”
Though air traffic controllers received a paycheck two weeks ago with about 90% of their regular compensation, Tuesday will mark their first fully unpaid pay period for work this month.
“It can take three to five years to fully train a technician,” said Dave Spero, President of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (Pass), which represents 11,000 employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense. “Any lapse in training can push the clock back, as it did during the academy’s closure during the pandemic.”
“For every day the government is shut down and employees in the aviation ecosystem are still furloughed, another layer of safety may be peeled away,” Spero added. “The furloughed employees want to be back on the job, all of the employees need to be paid and they want to start actively contributing to the modernization of the air traffic control system. We call on Congress to open the government as soon as possible.”
The longest government shutdown the U.S. has experienced took place in 2019. During the 35-day period, extended wait times at airports arose from lapses in paychecks to controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.
The current shutdown is now in second place for the longest cessation.
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