New Data Shows Huge Impact of the Government Shutdown on Airlines and Our Customers – Airlines for America

Report on FAA Staffing Crisis and its Impact on Sustainable Development Goals

1. Executive Summary of Aviation Network Disruptions

An analysis of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data reveals a critical strain on the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) due to air traffic controller staffing shortages. This issue has escalated significantly, posing a direct threat to national infrastructure, economic stability, and progress toward key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Controller staffing issues were responsible for 61% of all NAS delay minutes from November 7-9, 2025. This represents a sharp increase from 47% in the first week of November, 16% in October, and just 5% during the first nine months of the year.
• From October 1 to November 9, the staffing crisis directly disrupted the travel of 5.2 million passengers on Airlines for America (A4A) member carriers.
• Flight cancellations attributed to controller staffing surged from 11 flights between October 1-29 to 4,162 flights between October 30-November 9.
  • Of the 3,756 cancellations from November 7-9, 60% were a direct result of FAA-mandated flight reductions at 40 airports.

2. Economic Instability and Contradiction to SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

The operational crisis is precipitating a significant economic downturn, undermining the principles of sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth as outlined in SDG 8. The instability threatens jobs not only in the aviation sector but across the broader economy.

1. Projected Economic Impact: An FAA directive mandating a 10% flight reduction, effective November 14, is estimated to have a daily U.S. economic impact ranging from $285 million to $580 million.
2. Scope of Impact: This estimate is a conservative figure tied solely to compliance with the flight-reduction directive. It includes indirect and induced impacts on related sectors, such as:
   • Reduced visitor spending
   • Decreased state and local tax revenue
   • Curtailed expenditures across the aviation supply chain and the wider economy
3. Unaccounted Costs: The projection does not include additional costs related to the value of passenger time, reduced future bookings, or passenger refunds, suggesting the true economic damage is even greater.

3. Infrastructure Vulnerability and Challenges to SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

The ongoing staffing crisis exposes severe vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical aviation infrastructure. This lack of resilience directly challenges the objectives of SDG 9, which calls for building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation.

• Systemic Unpredictability: Unlike weather-related events for which carriers can prepare, staffing shortages create sudden, cascading delays with no advance notice. This undermines the ability of airlines to plan operations, staff appropriately, or protect customers, compromising the reliability of the entire system.
• Secondary Operational Failures: The primary staffing issue has triggered broad secondary impacts that further degrade infrastructure integrity, including late aircraft arrivals, crew legality issues (exceeding regulated work hours), and the mispositioning of equipment.
• Prolonged Recovery: These compounding issues prolong recovery times from disruptions and are expected to worsen as the mandated flight reductions are fully implemented.

4. Societal and Community Impacts in Relation to SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

The failure of this key transportation network has profound consequences for passengers and communities, weakening the social and economic fabric that underpins SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Reliable transportation is essential for connecting communities, facilitating commerce, and ensuring access to services.

• Passenger Experience: Travelers who are not impacted by cancellations still face significant challenges, including long departure delays, extended tarmac times, and highly unpredictable arrival times.
• Workforce Disruption: Flight crews are frequently “timing out” due to regulated duty limits or are missing their next flight connections, creating further operational instability and impacting the well-being of aviation workers.
• Community Connectivity: The disruption to air travel isolates communities, hinders business, and negatively impacts tourism-dependent local economies, thereby impeding progress toward creating inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable communities.

1. SDGs Addressed in the Article

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

  The article directly addresses the economic repercussions of the airline disruptions. It quantifies the financial losses, including reduced visitor spending and tax revenue, which are central to the goal of promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  The core issue discussed is a failure in critical national infrastructure—the National Airspace System (NAS)—due to controller staffing shortages. This impacts the reliability and resilience of the aviation industry, a key component of modern infrastructure.

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  The disruptions directly affect transportation systems that connect cities and communities. The article highlights how millions of passengers are unable to travel reliably, undermining the goal of providing access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transport systems.

2. Specific SDG Targets Identified

1. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Target 8.1: Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances. The article highlights a significant negative economic impact, stating that the flight-reduction directive could have a “daily average U.S. economic impact of $285M-580M.” This loss directly counteracts the goal of sustaining economic growth by detailing reduced spending and tax revenue across the economy.

2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.1: Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure… to support economic development and human well-being. The article demonstrates a failure to meet this target. The controller staffing issues have made the aviation infrastructure unreliable, as evidenced by the fact that these issues “contributed to 61% of NAS delay minutes” and led to thousands of cancellations, disrupting economic activity and the well-being of 5.2 million passengers.

3. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

   • Target 11.2: By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all. The article shows a regression from this target. The cancellation of 4,162 flights and disruptions for “5.2M A4A airline passengers” represent a significant reduction in access to reliable transport systems. Passengers encounter “long departure delays, extended tarmac times, and highly unpredictable arrival times,” making the system neither accessible nor sustainable for those who depend on it.

3. Indicators for Measuring Progress

1. Indicators for SDG 8 (Target 8.1)

   • Implied Indicator: Daily economic impact in USD. The article provides a direct monetary figure: “a daily average U.S. economic impact of $285M-580M.” This can be used as an indicator to measure the economic losses resulting from disruptions, tracking the negative impact on sustained economic growth.
   • Implied Indicator: Reduction in visitor spending and tax revenue. The article mentions that the economic impact estimate “does, however, include indirect and induced impacts tied to reduced visitor spending, state and local tax revenue.” These components can be tracked to measure the broader economic consequences.

2. Indicators for SDG 9 (Target 9.1)

   • Indicator: Percentage of air traffic delay minutes due to staffing issues. The article explicitly states that “controller staffing issues contributed to 61% of NAS delay minutes from Nov. 7-9.” This metric directly measures the reliability of the aviation infrastructure.
   • Indicator: Number of flight cancellations due to infrastructure failures. The text reports that “controller staffing issues caused them to cancel 4,162” flights in a short period. This number is a clear indicator of infrastructure resilience.

3. Indicators for SDG 11 (Target 11.2)

   • Indicator: Number of passengers affected by transport disruptions. The article specifies that “staffing issues disrupted 5.2M A4A airline passengers.” This figure serves as a direct measure of the scale of impact on passenger access to transportation.
   • Indicator: Unpredictability and length of travel delays. The article mentions “long departure delays, extended tarmac times, and highly unpredictable arrival times” as consequences. While not quantified with a single number, these qualitative descriptions point to metrics like average delay time and on-time performance rates, which can be used to measure the accessibility and reliability of the transport system.

4. Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: airlines.org