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Travelers walk through the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A startling message came over the radio from an air traffic control tower near Los Angeles less than a week into the federal government shutdown: “The tower is closed due to staffing."

Without enough air traffic controllers to guide planes into and out of Hollywood Burbank Airport, the tower went dark for almost six hours on Oct. 6, leaving pilots to coordinate their movements among themselves. Flight delays averaged two-and-a-half hours in one of the first visible signs that the shutdown was already taking a toll on the nation's aviation system.

Since the shutdown b

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