Air Traffic Controllers Union President Praises Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy

The president of the air traffic controllers union praised Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Monday for his ongoing efforts to improve air travel in the United States.

“NATCA has been advocating for increased controller staffing for more than a decade,” NATCA President Nick Daniels said. “Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy recognized this concern, and implemented plans to supercharge controller hiring and modernize the air traffic control system.”

Air traffic controllers have been working without pay during the longest government shutdown in American history in what Daniels described as a “game of tug of war” involving the federal workforce. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said the shutdown was politically “getting better for us” for Democrats every day.

Daniels noted that over the weekend, union members “ensured that over 7.3 million passengers arrived safely, flying over 113,000 flights. … They did this despite continuing to operate with 3800 fewer fully certified controllers than the system requires.”

“Air traffic control is one of the most mentally demanding and high-consequence professions in the entire world,” Daniels stated. “Every moment that we are at work, it requires everything we have: focus, judgment, decisiveness, perfect decision-making thousands of times a shift and what hangs in the balance is our responsibility to safety in order to prevent tragedy.”

“Air traffic control controllers must show up day in and day out fully prepared and to handle stress, pressure, and the weight of their responsibilities to the American flying public and their safety,” He continued. “For decades, air traffic controllers have held the line through staffing shortages, outdated equipment, hiring freezes, terrorist attacks on September 11, pandemics, and every crisis this country has lived through.”

“They have kept their focus their composure and their commitment to safety but now they must focus on childcare instead of traffic flows; food for their families instead of runway separation,” he declared. “This is not politics. This is not ideology. This is the erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees, but America relies on every single day.”