FAA controllers test positive for COVID-19, delaying flights

WASHINGTON — Nearly 300 air traffic control centers nationwide have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to flight delays as the facilities are temporarily closed for cleaning.

Some centers are repeatedly grappling with such closures, adding yet another hurdle to an industry that has struggled to regain travelers’ confidence in the wake of the pandemic.

The virus hit hardest in November and December, according to Federal Aviation Administration data: In November, 141 facilities reported at least one case of an employee testing positive. In December, 122 did. Some centers reported multiple cases in the same month or cases during both months.

The infections have a real-world impact: On Monday, the FAA had to close the airspace over Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after a controller tested positive for COVID-19 at the Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility, which handles traffic inbound to that and other nearby airports.

The cleaning caused some ground delays, according to local news reports, and controllers from that facility worked from the center tower at Dallas-Fort Worth International while the cleaning was taking place. It was the fifth positive test that the facility has seen since April 1.

Also Monday, the FAA temporarily closed the air traffic control facility in Jacksonville, Fla., from 4:20 p.m. to 6 p.m. for deep cleaning after a worker there tested positive for coronavirus, also causing some ground delays.

As of Jan. 5, 24 U.S. air traffic control facilities reported that someone on their staff has tested positive for the virus during the month of January.

The Jacksonville and Dallas-Fort Worth facilities are among 292 that have seen personnel test positive for the virus since the pandemic began, according to the FAA database, and the most recent outbreaks come as travel, just 39 percent of what it was in 2019, is finally beginning to show a slight uptick, according to Transportation Security Administration checkpoint data.

Positive tests, which necessitate a thorough cleaning of the shared workspace, have the potential to cause delays or cancellations. But the FAA said it has worked to create “a robust contingency plan” for every air traffic control facility to minimize the impact of employees testing positive, rerouting flights around the airspace or having other air traffic control facilities handle those flights.

“We staff each facility in the National Airspace System to keep traffic moving as safely and efficiently as possible,” said Doug Church, a spokesman for the controllers’ union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “But we are not immune from this virus, particularly in the very close quarters in which our members work and are unable to safely distance despite the mandatory use of face coverings.”

The pandemic, he said, “has affected every aspect of life, not just in the United States but the world. Aviation has been devastated.”

Some facilities have been hit harder than others. Jacksonville International Airport, for example, has seen staffers test positive 11 times since July 4, with the most recent case reported Dec. 15.