A compromise bill that has re-opened the United States federal government budget after weeks of shutdown has seen aviation return almost to normal in time for Thanksgiving, assuaging concerns that the holiday season would be hit by mass travel delays and cancellations.
Short-staffing among air traffic controllers, who are deemed essential workers and are expected to continue work without pay despite struggling to meet household bills, affected the last major US holiday, Halloween, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that workers were making hard choices about whether to work unpaid or call in sick and take up paid gig employment. The end of October saw a wave of air traffic control “safety triggers” across the country, where short staffing means traffic must be slowed to allow staff still working to cope. Short staffing affected 46 facilities on 31 October 2025, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered domestic a reduction in domestic flight numbers of 10%.
By contrast, as approval for legislation to release the federal budget deadlock was underway, there were fewer than four “safety triggers” due to air traffic controller shortages on 12 November.
Amid the chaos, President Trump called for sackings and for “patriotic” air traffic controllers who had remained in their posts throughout the budget standoff to receive bonus payments of $10,000 (around €8,600) in addition to the backpay they are due. On X, Sean Duffy described this initiative to reward those who “NEVER missed a day’s work during shutdown” as “BRILLIANT.”
In response though, others pointed out that: “There were Federal Fire Fighters, 911 Dispatchers, Cops, Airfield Ops, all mission critical that worked everyday without pay and some of them even saved lives. None of us are getting a bonus let alone a 10k bonus, feels kind of crappy.” Another commenter noted: “Not everyone can go without a paycheck for 40 days.”
Meanwhile, Johnny J Jones, secretary-treasurer of the union representing Transport Security Administration officials told the New York Times that Trump’s proposal of bonus pay was “great for some, but it’s better to give everybody a little something because they all suffered and they all endured hard times during the last 43 days.”
The pay debate continues even as the shutdown-related ATC shortages appear to be settling and Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastion expressed hopes that Thanksgiving would now be a “great holiday period of travel” with, in his words “a return to normal,” but others are questioning what that “normal” will look like.
Not only does it take carriers’ schedules a while to recover from delays and cancellations, as Airlines for America president and CEO, Chris Sununu, said in a statement this week, but consumer confidence has been chilled, and there remain structural shortages in the ATC ecosystem – shortages that were already there before Trump’s inauguration and that many commentators believe have worsened since his post-election DOGE drive to cut federal costs and lay off staff.
But, for now, at least, Thanksgiving appears to be saved…weather permitting.
