The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly plans to suspend approach control operations at the air traffic control tower in Nashville, Tennessee for five hours on Tuesday night, citing widespread staffing shortages.
"Nashville’s air traffic approach control will go dark for five hours tonight due to short staffing—the second FAA facility in as many days to shut down over shortages," CNN reporter Pete Muntean said in a post on the social platform X Tuesday.
The move comes amid growing alarm over the strain on the air traffic control system as employees continue to work without pay during the current federal government shutdown.
As reported by Forbes, controllers — like Transportation Security Administration officers at airport screening checkpoints — have not been paid during this period.
Under law, they are to receive back pay once the shutdown ends, but recent comments by President Donald Trump have raised doubts about the guarantee.
Nick Daniels, president of the 19,000‑member National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), told Forbes that controllers are scheduled to get a partial paycheck on October 14, and then no paycheck at all two weeks later, unless the shutdown ends.
While NATCA has warned its members that organized “sick outs” would be illegal, some union officials and individual controllers have warned that missed paychecks will compound the stress facing an already overstretched system.
One veteran controller told Forbes: “Missing even one [paycheck] is a cause of stress — stress they don’t need and you don’t want controlling your airplanes.”
The source added, “This will only get worse and escalate the longer this shutdown continues.”
The Nashville shutdown echoes a similar disruption in California. On Monday evening, Hollywood Burbank Airport’s control tower went unmanned from about 4:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time, after air traffic controllers walked off amid staffing and pay concerns.
During that period, Southern California TRACON in San Diego assumed responsibility for managing the airport’s airspace, coordinating arrivals and departures remotely.
Burbank’s tower outage resulted in significant delays, with average departure delays exceeding two hours.