Prevent the Government Shutdown
Support Aviation Safety: Prevent the Government Shutdown
(Updated September 20, 2025)
Air traffic control is one of the most complex and stressful professions in the world, requiring multiple layers of systems and processes for thousands of controllers and other aviation safety professionals to successfully separate the nearly 50,000 flights that take place every day in the U.S. These flights carry millions of passengers safely to their destinations and drive our economy by transporting more than 61,000 tons of high-value, time-sensitive, and life-saving goods such high-value electronics, fresh food and flowers, live animals, and pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies each and every day.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) represents more than 20,000 of these controllers and aviation safety professionals at the center of this system. Many of these essential aviation professionals work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week to make sure each of these flights and their precious passengers and cargo arrives safely. A government shutdown adds unnecessary distraction to their work, adding strain on a workforce that is already stretched thin working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, operating the most complex airspace in the world.
NATCA strongly supports Transportation Secretary Duffy’s comprehensive plan to “supercharge” controller hiring to begin alleviating the 3,800 shortfall of fully certified controllers and ensure that the system is staffed with the best and brightest air traffic controllers. NATCA also strongly supports Secretary Duffy’s vision for modernizing the air traffic control system. A shutdown suspends these vital hiring and training efforts and delays this critical modernization work.
What’s at Stake
- Effects on Workers: Air traffic controllers and other aviation safety professionals will be forced to work without pay, often under grueling schedules of six days a week, 10 hours a day. During the last shutdown, many had to take second jobs to feed their families and pay their bills—leading to stress and fatigue.
- Furloughs: Approximately 3,500 NATCA-represented aviation safety professionals—including air traffic controllers, staff support specialists, aircraft certification engineers, and aerospace engineers—will be furloughed. Critical safety support, operational support, and modernization work will stop.
- Staffing Shortages: The FAA is already 3,800 controllers short of where it needs to be. A shutdown will halt hiring and close the FAA Academy, derailing Secretary Duffy’s plan to “supercharge” hiring and further delaying the path to certification for 400 trainees.
- Modernization Delays: A shutdown will pause urgent upgrades to the air traffic control system, undermining efforts to modernize infrastructure and threatening the U.S.’s position as the gold standard in global aviation.
A shutdown doesn’t just harm NATCA members. It weakens the pipeline of future controllers and slows modernization. It threatens the reliability and efficiency of our entire aviation system.
