DENVER (KDVR) — Air traffic controllers are reporting to work but without being paid as a result of the government shutdown now nearing its fourth week.Controllers say the shutdown jeopardizes the 1.5 trillion-dollar aviation industry and the National Airspace System.
Members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) talked to travelers at 20 airports across the nation on Tuesday, urging them to contact lawmakers and ask them to stop the government shutdown.“I support air traffic controllers because I support safety,” said one traveler.Zac Ploch has worked as an air traffic controller at Denver International Airport for more than three years and has 10 years of experience. “I love my job, I love aviation,” Ploch told FOX31.He says he never thought he would see the day that his paycheck would show nothing but zeros.“My first paycheck this morning was zero dollars, and I worked almost 60 hours last week,” he said.Ploch says federal workers are facing mounting expenses.“Mortgage statements, credit card bills, light bills, gas in my car, or electric in some people’s cars, just to get to and from work, to be able to get to their job that doesn’t wait, that doesn’t take an ‘IOU,’” he said.NATCA President Nick Daniels issued a statement saying, “air traffic controllers don’t start or stop government shutdowns—politicians do. Yet right now, the people who keep our skies safe and our nation moving are doing their job without a paycheck.” Controllers work up to six days a week and ten hours a day. Even before the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration faced a shortage of nearly four thousand controllers.U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a Tuesday press conference at LaGuardia Airport that, while safe travel will not be compromised, travelers should be prepared for possible delays.“If we have issues, we will slow it down, we will stop it, and so I don’t want anyone to think it’s not safe, it’s just that you may not be traveling on the schedule you anticipated,” Duffy said.AAA of Colorado spokesperson Skyler McKinley tells FOX31 that those booking holiday travel should be flexible if the shutdown continues.“If the shutdown wears on to Thanksgiving, I would say that that’s going to have the potential to be a headache for many, many travelers because we see a surge of folks coming all at once and exerting a lot of pressure on federal agencies and sites,” he said.McKinley says operations are currently running smoothly, and travelers should treat those working without pay at airports with respect and compassion.Those booking travel to federally run parks, museums and other sites should make sure those destinations are open for business.FOX31 found that a majority of major airlines are sending food donations to air traffic controllers, many delivering hot food to the control tower.Ploch tells FOX31 he will get an extra job as a rideshare driver to try to make ends meet and cover his family’s bills…