The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that only 776 air traffic controllers and technicians will receive $10,000 bonuses for maintaining perfect attendance during the recent government shutdown — leaving nearly 20,000 other employees without the incentive despite having worked through the same period of financial strain.
The month-long shutdown pushed thousands of FAA personnel into difficult circumstances as they continued critical operations without pay. Many employees juggled side jobs, borrowed money, or struggled to cover child care and transportation costs. As the weeks dragged on, some controllers began calling out of work, resulting in significant staffing shortages nationwide.
Those absences triggered widespread delays at major airports and forced the federal government to order airlines to scale back flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest hubs. Technicians responsible for maintaining radar, navigation, and communication systems also faced heavy burdens, with roughly 6,600 required to work throughout the shutdown and another 3,000 placed on recall status.
President Donald Trump publicly floated the idea of $10,000 attendance bonuses for controllers who stayed on the job, while also suggesting that those who missed shifts should face pay reductions. FAA leadership has not announced any plans to penalize employees who called out.
The agency’s decision to limit bonuses to the small fraction of workers who never missed a shift has sparked frustration among the thousands of controllers and technicians who continued performing essential work despite extraordinary personal and financial pressure. Union officials say the policy fails to acknowledge the realities workers faced during the shutdown and overlooks the majority of staff who kept the system running under unprecedented stress.
The FAA said it will begin issuing the bonuses in the coming weeks.
By DNU Staff