Introduction
The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, is an arm of the US Department of Transportation that regulates all air traffic from small drones to the largest passenger jets. During a government shutdown, critical operations of the FAA are legally required ot continue, even if employees have to work without pay. During the 2025 Government Shutdown, officers of the Trump Administration are warning that if the shutdown is not ended, air travel may be severely disrupted because many FAA employees are taking unpaid leave rather than working for no pay.
A4SC Resources
The below resources include relevant videos and lesson plans from our content library that will help contextualize this current event within broader, more enduring, concepts.
Department of Transportation: Moving America – This video explains the role of the US Department of Transportation, including the FAA.
Budget Reconciliation – This video explains the budget reconciliation process which is how the U.S. Congress typically passes a budget for the fiscal year. If the Congress successfully completed budget reconciliation, the government shutdown would not have occurred.
Discussion Questions
- The most visible part of the FAA’s work is passenger air travel. What are some other functions of the FAA and why are they important?
- As air traffic increases, do you think the FAA will increase or decrease in importance?
Activity
Model air traffic control over the United States using plastic sandwich bags filled with legos to represent aircraft and tent cards labelled with airport codes to represent airports (LGA, JFK, DFW, ORD, LAX, etc.). Place labelled tent cards at different locations in the classroom, distribute bags and legos to each tent card, and assign students as counters (6), carriers (A/L 10), dispatchers (8), or the administrator. Counters will cound and fill sandwich bags with legos and count arrivals/departures, carriers will carry bags between airports, dispatchers will tell carriers when and where to carry their bags, and the administrator will move dispatchers as needed. Each airport will start with one counter and at least one dispatcher and a minimum number of departures and arrivals within a 7-minute round. Only one departure and one arrival can be completed per dispatcher per round. At the end of each round, the minimum departures and arrivals for all airports will change and the administrator will have the chance to reassign counters and dispatchers. Dispatchers can be moved to different airports, counters can be reassigned as dispatchers and then moved to different airports, airports can have a maximum of 3 dispatchers and only one counter. The activity continues for a total of three rounds. Discuss takeaways with the class.
Additional Resources
- Zahn, Max & Sweeneey, Sam. “80% of NYC-area air traffic controllers absent amid ‘surge’ in callouts: FAA”
ABC News, 31 October 2025
https://abcnews.go.com/US/delays-safety-concerns-shortages-air-traffic-controllers/story?id=127055961 - Criss, Jack. “I’m an air traffic controller. We’re struggling in the shutdown.”
MSNBC, 30 October 2025
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/air-traffic-controller-faa-shutdown-paycheck-rcna240669 - Cowan, Kellie. “Government shutdown threatens holiday travel as FAA staffing woes cause major delays”
FOX13 Tampa Bay, 3 November 2025
https://www.fox13news.com/news/government-shutdown-threatens-holiday-travel-faa-staffing-woes-cause-major-delays
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