A shortage of air traffic controllers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) has increasingly forced federal officials to slow the pace of arriving flights, at times holding planes on the ground in other cities to avoid overwhelming the tower.
The delays � known as "ground delay programs" � don't happen every day. But they were triggered twice in May alone, a growing symptom of an acute staffing crisis inside the tower, where controllers are enduring mandatory overtime, six-day work weeks and managing more flights with less rest.
"Some people question how safe [a ground delay] is," said Colin Scoggins, a retired air traffic controller with more than 30 years of experience. "The ground delay is where you're getting your safety from. They put in ground delays because they can only handle so many aircraft per hour."
For travelers, it can mean boarding a plane, then getting off and waiting at the gate. During , the average flight was 41 minutes late. Some travelers were delayed by almost two hours.
City officials who run Austin's city-owned airport have no authority over the FAA-run control tower. But they have been pressing federal officials to act, citing both flight disruptions and a string of near misses between planes.
In last November, airport CEO Ghizlane Badawi called the tower's staffing levels "dire" and said they were "directly impacting airport safety and operations." The letter, obtained by KUT News through a Texas Public Information Act request, warned low staffing had already caused FAA-imposed delays.
ABIA's tower is supposed to have 60 fully certified controllers, . But as of January, it had just 32, based on internal staffing records obtained by KUT News through the Freedom of Information Act.
The actual number of controllers available to work is even lower after accounting for medical leave, said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin.
"We continue to have a serious shortage. We have 29 air traffic controllers," Doggett said after a visit to the tower last week. "I think we will see more [ground delays] this summer around heavy periods."
That staffing level � under 50% of the FAA's goal � would put Austin among the 10 most understaffed towers in the country, based on 2023 FAA data.
Most Austin air traffic controllers rotate through mornings, afternoons and overnight shifts � disrupting sleep and family life. They are subject to random drug testing. Even using doctor-prescribed antidepressants requires FAA approval.
"You know, 5,000 decisions a day and everyone of them has to be correct," said Stephen Abraham, a retired air traffic controller who spent almost three decades at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. "You don't get second chances. You get worn out. That's the simplest way to describe it."
Sick days, which controllers are legally entitled to take, become more common under such strain, further thinning the ranks.
"You could get sick just because you're exhausted," Scoggins said. "Now you get sick, they got to call in someone else overtime. It's kind of a vicious circle."
On paper, the tower could have 14 personnel per shift, including trainees and front-line managers who aren't always directing air traffic. But KUT News reviewed records showing as few as eight employees available on some shifts.
To address the shortage, the FAA boosted Austin's staffing target from 42 to 60 controllers last summer, citing the airport's rapid post-pandemic growth.
"By proactively increasing that number, Senator, what that allowed us to do was to drive more trainees in that facility," FAA's Franklin McIntosh told U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at a hearing last month.
Cruz, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the FAA, asked McIntosh to prioritize controller hiring in Austin.
"It is a priority sir," McIntosh responded.
But since the staffing target was raised, trainee numbers have actually declined in Austin. ABIA had nine trainees when the goal increased to 60 certified controllers last July. That number fell to seven in November and stood at eight in January, according to FOIA records.
The national controller shortage stretches back to 1981, when President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking controllers. A new generation was hired, but mandatory retirement at age 56 meant many aged out at the same time in the mid-2000s.
Congress tried to prepare for the wave of retirements but never solved the problem.
Then came the pandemic. As travel collapsed, hiring slowed. The FAA closed its air traffic controller academy for four months and paused training at all facilities for eight months to limit exposure to the coronavirus, among other measures. The system never fully recovered.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy � nominated by then President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024 � has acknowledged the depth of the problem and promised action. He said the FAA is about 3,000 controllers short of its national target of 14,633.
"These are not easy problems," "But we're thinking creatively about how to supercharge air traffic control."
In May, the FAA announced like a 30% boost to the starting salary of trainees, a 20% annual bonus for retirement-eligible controllers who stay on the job and a shorter hiring process.
But the incentives do little for the vast majority of overtaxed controllers, some of whom feel insulted by the administration's lavishing of new recruits over the rank-and-file professionals already toiling long hours to keep planes in the sky.
That growing bitterness is prompting some controllers to look for other jobs. Even as the FAA adds to its ranks, hundreds of controllers leave each year due to retirement or stress.
The median wage for air traffic controllers is $144,580 per year, .
In Austin, delays caused by staffing shortages in the control tower may simply become a regular risk of the travel experience, especially during busy travel seasons.
Asked whether he feels safe flying, Doggett said he travels through ABIA twice a week and isn't overly concerned.
"It's safer than just about any other form of travel, safer than getting on I-35, I assure you," he said. "But I'd like to see a greater margin of safety."
