According to reports from Kuaikeji on October 7th， on the evening of October 6th local time， the air traffic control tower at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in Los Angeles experienced a “vacuum” of air traffic controllers for several hours. This incident put the busy airport at risk of having no one to direct air traffic during peak hours.
Reports indicate that from 7:00 PM US Eastern Time to 0:59 AM the following day， the control tower was completely unmanned. Flight scheduling was forced to be remotely managed by the San Diego tower and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)， both located over 120 miles away.
Despite backup plans， flights still experienced widespread delays and cancellations. For example， some Southwest Airlines flights were delayed by over 3 hours.
The incident stems from the US federal government shutdown， which began at 0:01 AM on October 1st. The Senate’s rejection of a bipartisan funding bill on September 30th led to a depletion of government funds. Consequently， hundreds of thousands of federal employees were forced to work without pay or were furloughed.
The FAA has publicly acknowledged a significant increase in air traffic controllers calling in sick since the shutdown. Manpower shortages have been flagged at numerous airports nationwide. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has emphasized that the nation’s air traffic control system has been facing a long-term shortage of 3，000 controllers， a crisis exacerbated by the shutdown.
The FAA has warned that if the shutdown continues， more airports could face situations similar to Burbank.
