The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) is warning that the ongoing federal government shutdown will lead to the first missed full paycheck for approximately 10,800 certified air traffic controllers and thousands of other aviation safety professionals on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Most controllers received a partial paycheck on Oct. 14, but with the shutdown continuing, the next payday will bring no pay at all. Although federal employees are expected to receive backpay once the funding lapse ends, many are beginning to feel strain on personal finances in the meantime.
“This shutdown has real consequences for these hard-working American patriots,” said NATCA President Nick Daniels in a statement Friday. “With each passing day, controllers become more distracted by the risk of receiving a zero-dollar paycheck on October 28, despite working 40 hours per week and, in many cases, mandatory overtime.”
NATCA leaders speak about the dedication of air traffic controllers across the country, who have and will continue to show up to work during the government shutdown. #EndTheShutdown https://t.co/sTEV2CZGzx
— NATCA (@NATCA) October 24, 2025
According to NATCA, financial stress among controllers has already begun to affect morale and focus in the nation’s air traffic control facilities. The union said many controllers are now forced to weigh how to pay rent, utilities, groceries and child care costs while continuing to manage one of the world’s most complex airspace systems.
NATCA said those pressures pose “unnecessary distractions” that could compromise the attention needed to ensure the safety of more than 45,000 daily flights and nearly 3 million passengers across 29 million square miles of U.S. airspace.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced plans to “supercharge” air traffic controller hiring and to keep the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City open throughout the shutdown to limit disruptions in training. NATCA expressed support for those measures. Bills are currently in the House and Senate that would reinstate pay for federal aviation workers, if passed.
“The sooner the shutdown ends, the sooner we can all get back to working together to advance these shared goals,” Daniels said. “In the meantime, controllers will continue to show up to ensure this country’s passengers and cargo arrive safely at their destination.”
The stress of the financial crisis at home is a far greater stress than handling air traffic; at least with the latter you can offer options and solutions that pilots can comply with and everybody gets to go home. But combine the ATC stress with the unresolvable stress of personal finances devolving inexorably into a shambles, with no sick leave time to mull things over—not that mulling will produce any relief—and the result could very well be a rapid mental breakdown that will take months of recovery time. Worse, that sort of mental breakdown is insidious; won’t be apparent until something really goes haywire.
In addition to the emotional stress added to the physical, there are hundreds of controllers at mid and top level facilities who are still working even though they are eligible to retire. This extraordinary state of affairs could very likely induce a wave of retirements that would add even more strain to an already overstressed system.
I worked eight more years after I was eligible to retire, because I loved what I was doing.
One of the issues is that unless there are severe and dire consequences (complete breakdown of ATC services) there will not be any learning in Wasgington. Some feeling tells me that the ATC shortage is about to worsen after this dog and pony show is over.
I made sure I thanked every controller on my recent trip to South Carolina. Everyone was very professional.
Now, I hope this does not sound harsh, but I wonder with folks who I assume are reasonably well paid government workers, how would they not have a 3 or 6-month emergency fund for themselves? I don’t want to minimize the stress, but how much of talk of severe hardship is media or union hype? They will get paid, it’s just delayed. I mean this as a sincere inquiry to those in the know. If I’m way off, someone who has been a controller let me know.
Until the controller on duty is more focused on how they’ll pay their mortgage that month that the two aircraft barrelling towards each other.
Some will have an emergency fund, some won’t. It’s all down to a persons individual circumstances. You can’t assume everyone does and yes, there is going to be media hype in a lot of this stuff.
Thanks. It seems ashamed that ATC are not considered critical employees that get paid. Congress is getting paid.