Trump Exploring Ways To Pay Air Traffic Controllers During Shutdown

While we’ll see if anything comes of this, the Trump administration is reportedly seeking a creative way to pay air traffic controllers, as the government shutdown enters its fourth week…

Trump looking for $500 million per month for ATC pay

The government in the United States has been shut down since the beginning of the month, so it has now been almost three full weeks. Government employees are still expected to go to work, though aren’t being paid, which is obviously a major issue.

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So far, we’ve seen fairly minimal disruptions for air travelers, in terms of staffing issues resulting from the shutdown. We’ve seen some minor problems, but they haven’t been widespread. To avoid things getting worse, it looks like the Trump administration is pursuing another solution.

According to Politico, Trump is exploring ways to pay air traffic controllers while the shutdown continues, according to sources familiar with the matter. This is because flight disruptions could become one of the most visible impacts of the shutdown, and the optics of that are bad for any politician.

The government would need to find over $500 million per month to cover the payrolls of the 13,000 air traffic controllers, so that’s a significant amount of money (that seems like an awfully high number, so I’m not sure if that also covers some other things, or what… but that’s the number provided). They all received partial paychecks last Tuesday, but will receive no pay with their “paycheck” next week, assuming the shutdown continues.

I struggle to figure out how the Trump administration could make this happen, so I’m curious to see if anything comes of this. For that matter, it seems unfair to pay air traffic controllers (already among the better paid government employees), and leave all other government employees to essentially fend for themselves.

The aviation industry has big implications for society

I know that for many of us, the aviation industry is the center of the world. 😉 But even beyond us aviation geeks, what happens in the industry has far reaching implications.

It’s worth noting that during the last government shutdown under 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.

That’s because air traffic controller sick calls lead to huge flight delays and cancellations, and if there’s one thing that the public doesn’t like, it’s delayed flights. Our air traffic control system is already pushed to the limits under the best of circumstances, let alone when any problems arise.

Air traffic controllers no doubt hold a lot of power here, even though they’re not allowed to strike, or to have any sort of a coordinated walk-out. But if a good number of them started calling in sick (which I’m of course not encouraging), there’s no denying that the impact on the system would be massive, and it would force the government to do something.

I know many air traffic controllers have taken up second jobs to make ends meet. They already have stressful jobs and work long shifts, so that’s less than ideal.

Bottom line

The Trump administration is reportedly trying to figure out a way to pay air traffic controllers during the government shutdown. I’m not sure how realistic that is (it doesn’t seem realistic, but the Trump administration is also known for its “creativity”), but it would require over $500 million per month.

Any sort of air traffic disruptions would almost certainly force an end to the shutdown, as that was the case several years back as well. After all, people don’t want anything getting in the way of their vacations (well, and other travel).

Do you think something will come of this plan for air traffic controllers?