Politicians couldn’t overcome their differences and end the government shutdown over five weeks. Six air traffic controllers might have given them the final nudge they needed.
Six of the 13 controllers who normally staff a critical air traffic center in Virginia didn’t come to work Friday. That center handles air traffic in and out of the mid-Atlantic region and the New York City area.
Their absence contributed to a slowdown in air traffic and massive delays along the East Coast on Friday. LaGuardia Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were particularly affected, and delays rippled outward from there – about 3,000 late flights by midafternoon.
Negotiations to end the shutdown had been gaining speed Thursday night. The air-traffic mess added urgency to the talks – by emphasizing how, for the first time, millions of ordinary Americans were affected.
An American Airlines jet, left, waits for a Delta Airlines jet to pass by before following it onto the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, in New York. The Federal Aviation Administration reported delays in air travel Friday because of a “slight increase in sick leave” at two East Coast air traffic control facilities. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump went to a lectern in the Rose Garden and announced a deal to end – at least for three weeks – the partial government shutdown that had forced air traffic controllers and airport screeners to work without pay.