Isolated flight delays may spread as air traffic controllers go without pay during shutdown

(AP)– Air traffic controllers missed their paychecks Tuesday because of the ongoing government shutdown, and that has Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the head of the controllers’ union concerned that flight delays could multiply as increasingly stressed-out controllers call out sick.

Recent absences have led to a number of isolated delays around the country because the Federal Aviation Administration was already extremely short on controllers prior to the shutdown. The FAA restricts the number of flights landing and taking off at an airport anytime there is a shortage of controllers to ensure safety.

There’s no way to predict when or where delays might happen because even a small number of absences can disrupt operations at times. Sometimes the delays are only 30 minutes, but som