Air traffic controllers at one of world’s busiest airports tell Duffy shutdown exposes wider issue
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke to air traffic controllers’ leadership at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday about ongoing pressure their workforce is facing as the government shutdown stretches to a 43rd day.
“What the shutdown has really shown to the public is what we have been dealing with for the last 10 years. We’ve been working four days off a month at the world’s busiest airport for a decade,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) representative at Chicago O’Hare told Duffy. “O’Hare needs controllers.”
“We have one of the most stressful jobs ever,” the head of the air traffic controllers’ leadership team told Duffy. “Working an inbound ground control session upstairs after an hour and a half, your brain is mush. Now if you have to go downstairs on your 30 minute break to go call creditors and say ‘I’m not going to be able to pay this. Can I have an extension?’ that’s just an added pressure, right?”
In an X post accompanying the video of their conversation, Duffy wrote, “At the world’s busiest airport, Chicago O’Hare, I checked in with a couple air traffic controllers and visited their tower.”
“Did you know that because of understaffing, many of their controllers are only able to take 4 days off PER MONTH?” he wrote. “Controllers, thank you for your dedication to serving our skies.”
