3 weeks ago
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BURBANK, Calif. -- Southern California's Hollywood Burbank Airport is bracing for impacted operations arsenic aerial postulation controllers statesman to telephone retired successful greater numbers owed to the authorities shutdown.
Beginning astatine 4:15 p.m. Monday, Hollywood Burbank Airport volition person nary aerial postulation controllers successful their tower, ABC News has learned.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) anticipates the airdrome volition beryllium without aerial postulation controllers until 10 p.m., though they are trying to bring successful staffing sooner than that.
Eyewitness News spoke to Burbank Airport aerial postulation controllers, who confirmed they volition beryllium heading location astatine 4:15 p.m. and the operation volition past beryllium unstaffed. They said they volition beryllium handing disconnected their duties to Southern California TRACON, an attack and departure squad retired of San Diego, who volition speech to the pilots who volition beryllium landing and taking disconnected astatine Burbank Airport.
Officials are hoping for minimal impacts connected travelers, but it's unclear what the grade of the impacts whitethorn be.
According to an FAA advisory, determination are aggregate staffing triggers successful place, including crushed delays astatine airports successful Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis and Phoenix.
Delays with aerial question were anticipated owed to the authorities shutdown, which entered its sixth time connected Monday.
Control towers and airdrome information checkpoints are inactive staffed, with astir 13,200 aerial postulation controllers and much than 61,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees expected to stay connected the job.
But arsenic much clip passes for the workers since their past paycheck, travelers could commencement to spot longer lines astatine information and formation interruptions, said Jeffrey Price, prof of aviation astatine the Metropolitan State University of Denver.
"The strategy does go a small spot much brittle, and the longer this goes, the much the traveler is going to announcement it," Price said.
That's what happened successful 2018 and 2019, erstwhile Trump led the state into its longest shutdown ever for 35 days during his archetypal term.
About 3 weeks into that shutdown, immoderate unpaid information screeners started calling successful sick, and aerial postulation controllers sued the authorities successful a bid to get their paychecks. Miami International Airport had to temporarily adjacent 1 of its terminals due to the fact that TSA officers were calling successful sick astatine doubly the airport's accustomed rate.
The latest shutdown is unfolding astatine a clip erstwhile some the TSA and the Federal Aviation Administration are already facing staffing shortages, including a shortage of astir 3,000 aerial postulation controllers.
If the strategy can't grip the fig of flights that are scheduled, the FAA volition dilatory down landings and instrumentality offs and passengers volition spot much delays and cancellations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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