Yesterday was a pretty eventful day at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), and not in a good way…
In this post:
Burbank Airport tower unstaffed amid government shutdown
The government has been shut down for nearly a week now, meaning that most federal workers aren’t getting paid. As you’d expect, at some point this impacts peoples’ willingness to go to work, with an increasing number of sick calls.
This can also impact aviation, and particularly, air traffic control staffing, given the stress the system is under even when things are operating smoothly. As an example of that, on Monday, October 6, 2025, the air traffic control tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport was unstaffed for a period of nearly six hours, from 4:15PM until 10PM.
During that time, there were no controllers in the air traffic control tower, but instead, operations were run remotely by Southern California TRACON, an approach and departure team out of San Diego. While these controllers remotely handle traffic in Southern California, it’s rare to see them performing tower functions at commercial airports.
Now, it’s worth acknowledging that there are commercial airports with unstaffed towers over certain hours. However, that’s almost never the case at airports of this size, during a busy afternoon bank of flights.
These staffing issues caused widespread flight delays of several hours, and even cancellations. While having zero people in the air traffic control tower is rare, Burbank isn’t the only airport that saw staffing shortages yesterday, as there were also issues at airports like Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), Indianapolis (IND), and Phoenix (PHX).
As US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy describes this:
“We are tracking sick calls, sick leave. Have we had a slight tick up in sick calls? Yes. And then you’ll see delays that come from that, right? Because again, our priority, again, I want to see your flight not be delayed. I don’t want you canceled, but our priorities are safety. So if we have additional sick calls, we will reduce the flow consistent with a rate that’s safe for the American people.”
Aviation could impact government shutdown timeline
It’s anyone’s guess how the current government shutdown situation plays out. As you’d expect, our aviation infrastructure is critically important, and any impact on aviation will be felt pretty directly by the public.
It’s worth noting that during the last government shutdown during a Trump presidency, in 2018-2019, aviation played a major part in bringing it to an end. That shutdown had lasted over a month, and increased sick calls from air traffic controllers were reportedly a key factor in ending the shutdown.
So while air traffic controllers do technically have to show up to work, that’s not to say that they won’t call in sick. Given that the system has virtually no buffer, even a minimal number of sick calls can put serious strain on the system.
Air traffic controllers are expected to get a partial paycheck on October 14, and then on October 28, they’re projected to get no paycheck at all. When you consider that air traffic controllers work incredibly long hours, it’s understandable that many just can’t bring themselves to show up when they can’t even pay their bills.
So we’ll see if aviation plays a factor in ending the shutdown this time around, or not.
Bottom line
The tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport was unstaffed for around six hours yesterday afternoon, due to staffing shortages. During that time, operations were run remotely by Southern California TRACON. This seems to be a symptom of the government shutdown, as we’ll certainly see an increase in sick calls.
We’ll see if aviation has an impact in ending this shutdown, as it did with the last major one.
What do you make of Burbank Airport operating without anyone in the tower?
Having an airport without a tower is not unusual. In our town of St. George, Utah, the regional airport has about 20 jet flights a day to Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles It does not have tower (although it's going to get one in the future). Flights are currently managed remotely by air traffic controllers based in Los Angeles.
So, the staffing shortage is being caused by another 'sick out" bt the traffic controllers and TSA employees.
I have worked in the past as aide to senator and house rep. For this you do require 60 votes. No way around it, for most part. Regardless which side your on, DEMS have to own this ONE and get their heads out of MARINA TRENCH. or however it’s spelled. But, then again I really don’t care because it doesn’t hurt my life and I hope it goes on for months and Trump eliminates waste while Dems lose more in midterms. I’ll still enjoy the beach and my life nicely.
did you have children engage in these comments? Im not even a republican & can tell you that it was the democrats once again who refused a partisan deal unless support for illegal borders jumpers was involved, not to mention Chuck & the ol' filibuster... you people need to depend on YOURSELVES for news, these people are literally paid to lie... by the way, the issue with that airport was CALL OFFS for political reasons,...
did you have children engage in these comments? Im not even a republican & can tell you that it was the democrats once again who refused a partisan deal unless support for illegal borders jumpers was involved, not to mention Chuck & the ol' filibuster... you people need to depend on YOURSELVES for news, these people are literally paid to lie... by the way, the issue with that airport was CALL OFFS for political reasons, NOT a government shut down... this is pathetic...
@John
Republicans could simply have a majority vote to end the filibuster and pass their funding authorization. They already did this for batch appointee confirmations that Schumer was holding up. Republicans have a majority in all 3 branches of government. The only people causing them to shut down the government is themselves.
You know its 60%, not just majority to pass a budget bill right? Bro you gotta learn our goverment. Its the Dems holding up the bill and causing the shutdown.
@Eric Wu
There is no requirement that any bill have a 60% majority to pass. Every Senate bill other than a Constitutional amendment or Presidential veto override only requires a simple majority.
You're so cute lil bro. You have no idea how the Senate works, but you want to act like you do. I'll help you out lil bro. What you're talking about is the filibuster, which is a 60% majority to end debate...
@Eric Wu
There is no requirement that any bill have a 60% majority to pass. Every Senate bill other than a Constitutional amendment or Presidential veto override only requires a simple majority.
You're so cute lil bro. You have no idea how the Senate works, but you want to act like you do. I'll help you out lil bro. What you're talking about is the filibuster, which is a 60% majority to end debate on a bill, not pass the bill. The filibuster is not a law. It is nowhere in the Constitution. It's a rule voluntary adopted by the Senate at the start of each session. This rule actually used to require a 2/3 majority, but was lowered to 60% in 1975 and then removed altogether for executive nominations in the 2010s. It's also not in place for rescissions or the budget reconciliation process, which is how Trump passed the Big Billionaires Bill without needing 60 votes.
Nothing would prevent the GOP from voting on a simple majority to end the filibuster. But that would also require them to, you know, govern, instead of trying to pass off a major cut to people's healthcare as "bipartisan". There's no reason for Democrats to negotiate or give it the air of legitimacy when Trump literally told them to go F$#@ themselves before the shutdown and anything Republicans promise can just be removed the next day by a simple majority rescission vote. You know, like all the healthcare carveouts from the BBB that Murkowski was "promised" for Alaska. Your monkeys, your circus.
I have worked in the past as aide to senator and house rep. For this you do require 60 votes. No way around it, for most part. Regardless which side your on, DEMS have to own this ONE and get their heads out of MARINA TRENCH. or however it’s spelled. But, then again I really don’t care because it doesn’t hurt my life and I hope it goes on for months and Trump eliminates waste while Dems lose more in midterms. I’ll still enjoy the beach and my life nicely.
@Florida Sunshine
You are flat wrong. The GOP already removed the filibuster this year for nominations in order to approve Trump's nominees in batches: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-senate-gop-poised-to-change-rules-to-speed-up-trumps-nominee-confirmations
The GOP also did this exact same thing in 2017 to remove the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees to get Gorsuch in. All it requires is a simple majority to change the Senate rules and remove the filibuster. Republicans could do this to end the filibuster at any time....
@Florida Sunshine
You are flat wrong. The GOP already removed the filibuster this year for nominations in order to approve Trump's nominees in batches: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-senate-gop-poised-to-change-rules-to-speed-up-trumps-nominee-confirmations
The GOP also did this exact same thing in 2017 to remove the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees to get Gorsuch in. All it requires is a simple majority to change the Senate rules and remove the filibuster. Republicans could do this to end the filibuster at any time. There is no 60 vote majority required to end the filibuster.
I know of willing air traffic controllers in California who would like to work but have been furloughed as part of the government shutdown.
So should airlines be allowed to operate into airports like Burbank when there are no tower or ground controllers working there? Should they, at the very least, not be allowed to operate at night?
Your liberal banter is all very cute. But, no-one can deny that the root cause (dem lingo)of all this is Chuck Schumer. (mike drop)
Just another reason to stay out of U.S. airspace.
Didn't some famous guy say in like 2011 or 2013 that a government shutdown is a failure of leadership on the part of the President? I wonder where that guy is now.
That is not at all what President Trump meant! Obviously you have not read the entire text. This is 100 percent on the democrats!
This is 100% on both parties. Every single member of Congress and the President. The looming budget deadline was not a secret, yet they all decided to do nothing but try for a continuing resolution and then negotiate. They should have spent the summer negotiating, so that a budget would be done before there was any risk of a shutdown. Every single member of Congress should be barred from running again.
Republicans refuse to negotiate and when the Democrats don't immediately capitulate to their every demand you idiots go BoTh SiDeS
@jallan
The responsibility is squarely on the party that controls the Presidency and both houses of Congress. They could pass a funding bill today if they wanted to. But they won't, because then Mikey Mike would have to swear in the last Rep needed to release the Epstein files.
So where's the AI that can allegedly take over in a hot minute?
Where's Trump to fire us all and install readily available replacements... like Reagan.
Yeah, didn't think so.
Reagan, and his chief henchman, William French Smith, didn’t really have ready-made replacements. They brought in ancient retired controllers, unqualified military controllers, and non-union supervisors (hugely overstaffed supervisory crew at the facility I worked at). Plus the scabs, of course. It took years to get staffing back to an almost acceptable level. Now two “generations” later, where are we?
Chronic understaffing in 2025 is a bipartisan funding failure. Controllers sicking out because the government won’t...
Reagan, and his chief henchman, William French Smith, didn’t really have ready-made replacements. They brought in ancient retired controllers, unqualified military controllers, and non-union supervisors (hugely overstaffed supervisory crew at the facility I worked at). Plus the scabs, of course. It took years to get staffing back to an almost acceptable level. Now two “generations” later, where are we?
Chronic understaffing in 2025 is a bipartisan funding failure. Controllers sicking out because the government won’t pay them in exchange for mandatory six day weeks / ten hour days is the result of constant political games.
And, the commenter who calls the ATCs greedy is a jerk, whose next flight hopefully will be canceled.
I flew private over the weekend and there were multiple frequencies at various facilities that were unmonitored while at others a single controller was giving nonstop directions (breaks only long enough for the receiving aircraft to acknowledge).
Selfie or it didn't happen.
oh, I have pics but, sadly, I can't add them to the comments section
In all previous shutdowns, everybody got backpay, including non-essential government workers. So these atc are jealous because they won't get paid more for showing up. Greed.
But I guess many of the federal workers not being paid also don’t have to work. ATCs do have to work but with pay down the track.
Kind of a weird way to flip the script. Public servants aren't getting paid on time but let's make them out to be the problem here. Nice!
Anyway, as a top 10% earner in the government and someone who relies on OT to fund my lifestyle, to say I'm "jealous" of those staying home would be inaccurate. And if greed *was* at play for my fellow controllers at BUR, you could hardly blame them. Take...
Kind of a weird way to flip the script. Public servants aren't getting paid on time but let's make them out to be the problem here. Nice!
Anyway, as a top 10% earner in the government and someone who relies on OT to fund my lifestyle, to say I'm "jealous" of those staying home would be inaccurate. And if greed *was* at play for my fellow controllers at BUR, you could hardly blame them. Take a look around, our society is built on greed. At this point it's so embedded that if you don't take advantage when you can, you're a sucker.
Furloughed federal workers aren't guaranteed compensation for their forced time off during the government shutdown, according to a draft White House memo described to Axios by three sources.
"With staff being unpaid we see an increasing rate of sick calls"
Can someone explain to me (absolutely not familiar with the US) whether staff is really expected to come to work while they're not paid? Sounds to me like if you're not paid nobody is expecting you to show up, full stop (I wouldn't even expect people to call sick). Am I missing something?
In short, yes. Essential services like TSA, ATC, Military, CBP etc must still report to work during shutdowns. Their pay will be issued retroactive when the shutdown ends. Given that this is happening more often this century it's hoped that these workers are keeping at least a month in savings on reserve and are able to contact credit cards, loans, and rental/mortgage fees to be deferred. It's a hardship if it extends on more than...
In short, yes. Essential services like TSA, ATC, Military, CBP etc must still report to work during shutdowns. Their pay will be issued retroactive when the shutdown ends. Given that this is happening more often this century it's hoped that these workers are keeping at least a month in savings on reserve and are able to contact credit cards, loans, and rental/mortgage fees to be deferred. It's a hardship if it extends on more than a few weeks. That's when ATC and TSA start really seeing the increase of workers calling in sick. Can't blame them if this drags on for over 2-3 weeks. Calling in sick allows for gig work like Uber to quickly get some cash instead of showing up for work.
Although this is clearly a case of shutdown affecting things, you do know that there are certain commercial airports that are untowered after certain hours, right?
@ Eric Schmidt -- Absolutely, but not airports with the traffic levels you'd find in Burbank on an afternoon.
London City Airport (LCY) air traffic controllers operate from a remote digital control center in Swanwick, Hampshire, over 90 miles away, instead of a physical tower. Landing the planes must not be that difficult. But they have am unstaffed tower with 16 high-definition cameras and two pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras that are used to move them around once on the ground. How was that done at Burbank? (Not that it makes much difference, if Delta has...
London City Airport (LCY) air traffic controllers operate from a remote digital control center in Swanwick, Hampshire, over 90 miles away, instead of a physical tower. Landing the planes must not be that difficult. But they have am unstaffed tower with 16 high-definition cameras and two pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras that are used to move them around once on the ground. How was that done at Burbank? (Not that it makes much difference, if Delta has two planes near each other.)
JetBlue 358, an A220, arrived 19 minutes late after an on-time departure from JFK at 8:24pm.
The Ground Delay Program came out at 3:50 pm PDT. JBU358 was already airborne at 2:30 pm PDT, so it was not affected by delays.
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