On Monday evening, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control Command Center sent out an emergency notice that Hollywood Burbank Airport had zero air traffic controllers on duty. That’s how the nation’s airlines learned that no controllers had shown up for the evening shift at Burbank tower.

The controllers had all called in sick due to the federal government shutdown that began last week. During the shutdown, air traffic controllers are not being paid for their often six-day, 10-hours-per-day work weeks. While President Donald Trump has floated the idea of not paying all federal workers back pay this time, controllers have typically received back pay for time worked during shutdowns.

All evening long, flight arrivals and departures at Burbank were delayed, as the FAA’s re

See Full Page