WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday asked air traffic controllers to return to work as travelers suffered another day of flight cancellations ordered by the administration to manage staffing shortages during the government shutdown.
Threatening to cut the pay of any auditor who did not return, Trump said he would award a $10,000 bonus to those who had not taken leave during the 41-day shutdown and welcome resignations from the rest.
“All Air Traffic Controllers must go back to work NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be effectively ‘fired’,” Trump wrote on social media. “REPORT TO JOB IMMEDIATELY.”
The shutdown, the largest in US history, forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay. Some are absent as they work second jobs or cannot afford childcare.
About 20 percent to 40 percent of controllers were absent each day at the 30 largest U.S. airports during the shutdown, the FAA said last week.
Shares of major US airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines, turned negative after Trump’s social media post.
Officials said it was unclear how the White House could deny payment under the auditors’ union contract once the government reopens, as Trump has threatened, or how the president would pay for the proposed $10,000 bonuses.
Airlines canceled nearly 2,000 flights Monday, and the number was set to rise as the FAA ordered flight cuts to increase to 10 percent on Friday. A winter storm in Chicago also disrupted air travel.
FlightAware, a flight tracking website, reported as of 3 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), 5,825 flights were also delayed on Monday after 2,950 flights were canceled and nearly 11,200 were delayed on Sunday in the worst day for flight disruptions since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1.
Staffing issues worsened over the weekend and the number of short-staffed air traffic control centers rose to 81 on Saturday, the highest since Oct. 1, Transport Minister Sean Duffy said on Sunday.
Asked about Trump’s comments, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels said Monday that controllers would appreciate any recognition. “We will work with management … Air traffic controllers will continue to appear during this outage,” he said.
Trump chided the auditors who have been furloughed and called those who continued to work “GREAT PATRIOTS.” Representative Rick Larsen, the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees the FAA, said the controllers “deserve our thanks and appreciation, not the unabashed attacks on their patriotism.”
“Simply unacceptable,” says the American CEO
Airlines have called for quick passage of a bill the US Senate voted to advance on Sunday that would reopen the government. It was unclear when Duffy would lift the flight restrictions.
“The government shutdown must end, and so must the disruption caused to our customers and federal employees forced to work without pay,” said Southwest CEO Bob Jordan.
American Airlines said more than 250,000 customer flights were canceled or delayed over the weekend. “This is simply unacceptable and everyone deserves better,” American CEO David Seymour told employees.
The FAA ordered airlines to cut 4 percent of daily flights starting last week at 40 major airports. This is scheduled to increase to 6% on Tuesday and then reach 10% on Friday.
Even before the shutdown, the FAA had about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Many were forced to work overtime and six-day weeks. Duffy sought to retain controllers who could retire, speed up hiring and undertake a $12.5 billion overhaul of air traffic control systems.
The FAA also announced late Sunday that it had grounded private planes at 12 airports due to shortages in air traffic control personnel, including Chicago O’Hare and Reagan Washington National.
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