“Every day the shutdown continues, the negative consequences to the National Airspace System and its employees are compounding,” announced flyers handed out in airports Monday by members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), representing 14,000 controllers. America’s national airspace is experiencing an unusually high volume of flight delays. However, the connection between these delays and the government shutdown is not obvious; this piece seeks to explain the connection.

Let’s begin with the statistics. On Sunday, more than 8,800 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were delayed, according to tracking platform Flight Aware. After that, more than 7,400 flights were delayed on Monday, more than 4,600 on Tuesday, more than 4,500 on Wednesday, and more than 4,200 and counting on Thursday (the higher numbers on Sunday and Monday reflect the fact that more people fly on the weekends).

On Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted that many of these flight delays were a direct result of staffing shortages in the air traffic control tower. In fact, staffing shortages caused 44% of the flight delays on Sunday and 24% of the flight delays on Monday, compared to only 5% of all flight delays for the rest of the year so far. These delays have been sporadically localized at various airports; the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded flights Monday at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and on Wednesday at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) due to “staffing issues.”

The link between air traffic controller shortages and government shutdowns is not a new phenomenon. During a 35-day shutdown in 2019, a shortage of also led to flight delays.

However, none of these data serves to answer the question: why do government shutdowns affect air traffic control staffing?

It would be reasonable to guess that air traffic controllers, or at least some of them, are among the 750,000 federal employees who are furloughed during shutdowns. But that is not the real answer. Air traffic controllers are rightly deemed essential due to the critical role they play in keeping the skies safe.

Rather, as essential federal workers, air traffic controllers are forced to work without pay during a government shutdown. If a shutdown is resolved after a day or two, such a burden is unnoticeable. However, when a shutdown extends for weeks, it means that government workers begin to miss paychecks. Air traffic controllers missed a partial paycheck on October 14 and their first full paycheck on October 28.

There are many Americans who can scarcely afford to miss one paycheck, let alone two, and still make ends meet. It would appear that many air traffic controllers find themselves among this number. “America’s air traffic controllers are now having to focus on: how do they put gas in the car? How do they take care of their children? How do they pay for childcare?” complained NATCA President Nick Daniels. These questions of basic survival hit hardest for younger employees, who haven’t yet worked long enough to build a reliable nest egg.

Many air traffic controllers are seeking to solve their cashflow problems by taking a second job: waiting tables, delivering DoorDash, driving for Uber, or tutoring students. “By the hundreds, they’re right now doing second jobs. Tomorrow, it will be in the thousands,” Daniels said.

But taking a second job gets complicated because air traffic controllers were already overworked, even before the shutdown. The FAA is approximately 3,500 controllers (20%) short of its target staffing level. Due to this persistent shortage, many controllers work mandatory overtime: six days a week, 10 hours a day. Now, these controllers are moonlighting on top of their 60-hour-a-week day jobs, for which they aren’t being paid, and the strain is catching up with them.

“Day in and day out, air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus, 100% of the time,” Daniels insisted. “They should never get off a night shift, and then go wait tables, and then [back to work to] go move the commerce and people through this airspace.” That sounds like a recipe for fatal aerial collisions.

As an alternative to jeopardizing air safety by working while under the influence of exhaustion, air traffic controllers are instead coming down with cases of the “shutdown flu.” Federal employees accrue sick days over time, and the federal government cannot prevent them from using those sick days. So, many air traffic controllers are calling out sick to work second jobs.

Of course, air traffic controllers are not supposed to use sick days in this manner. But a shut-down federal government has no recourse to prevent them from doing so. Firing a controller simply gives the FAA one less controller who will ever go to work. And there is no pay to dock when the workforce isn’t getting paid anyways.

There is a more fundamental justice issue at play. The Bible is clear that a person’s work is intricately connected with his ability to sustain himself and his dependents. One application of this principle is to counsel against handouts for the lazy, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

The opposite application of the principle is that those who do work should be paid on time. “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13). This commandment contemplates the case of a day laborer, but it applies equally to salaried employees who receive a paycheck every two weeks. Workers rely on the wages owed them to support themselves, and it is unjust to keep these wages from them.

This injustice is perpetuated during lengthy government shutdowns. Many government employees are simply furloughed — without pay, without work — which creates headaches, but at least gives them a chance to find another job. Those essential workers who are forced to show up at work without pay are placed in a much tougher position; they bear the brunt of Congress’s irresponsibility and brinksmanship.

That irresponsibility can have consequences lasting even beyond the shutdown. Whenever Congress eventually agrees to reopen the government, they will doubtless authorize back pay for both essential and furloughed workers, and air traffic controllers will once again be back at work. The problem is, the shutdown also disrupts the FAA training pipeline, since the funding to pay stipends to students in the FAA training academy has almost run out. This disruption will mean fewer new air traffic controllers to replace those who retire or leave, thereby deepening the controller shortage.

Thus, air travel delays are indirectly related to the government shutdown, but nevertheless a logical consequence. If this is true, we can expect to see air travel disruptions persist for as long as the shutdown. The days before and after Thanksgiving and Christmas consistently rank among the busiest travel days of the year. So, it’s worth wondering, will the government reopen before Thanksgiving?