It’s happening. Air traffic controllers are calling in sick and resigning due to the federal government shutdown, which this morning resulted in flight delays up and down the east coast.
As sickouts happened in the Jacksonville, Fla. and Washington, D.C. area air traffic control centers, Jonathan Grella, executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association, the travel industry trade association, noted that “more than 50 percent of all flight delays and cancellations nationwide originate in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania airspace,” specifically LaGuardia and Newark Airports in the New York area and Philadelphia International Airport.
Flights into these airports have been grounded awaiting air traffic control clearance. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, has been experiencing delays of 45 minutes and up, and delays were also reported at Miami International Airport.
Read the full story on my Forbes site.