An American Eagle plane takes off near an FAA air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on November 6, 2025. Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Almost everyone agrees that the US air traffic control system is broken.

Longstanding staffing shortages. Antiquated technology. And now, air traffic controllers are caught in the middle of a political tug of war that has nothing to do with their operations.

The government shutdown has left controllers working unpaid, six-day-weeks. That’s worsened a staffing crisis , with some airports’ control towers occasionally being without any controllers at all.

And now that crisis, combined with the shutdown, has led to Federal Aviation Administration limits on flights at the nation’s 40 largest

See Full Page