The government shutdown has now led the FAA to restrict private air travel, affecting the wealthy and powerful who rely on non-commercial jets.
12 of the busiest airports in the U.S. are affected: Atlanta, Boston, JFK in New York, Chicago, and notably Washington Reagan, the choice airport for those lobbyists and some legislators who fly private.
Exceptions will be made for emergency and law enforcement aircraft, but the National Business Aviation Association says this effectively shuts down private air travel at those airports.
Sunday was an especially tough day for commercial air travel as well.
Airlines canceled nearly 3,000 flights. That was 16% of all Delta flights. The company's hub, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, was hit especially hard with flight cancellations; 223 flights were taken off the schedule on Sunday there.
For flights around the U.S. allowed to take off, there were 11,000 delays.
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The FAA is throttling down air traffic by 4% at 40 major airports, with a plan to gradually grow the number of canceled flights to 10% by Friday, to make sure there are enough air traffic controllers to keep the airspace safe.
Those controllers are among government workers who haven't received a paycheck for weeks, even as they are required to keep working.
A number of them have chosen to retire or take second jobs.
The air traffic control union president says requiring these workers to show up in these high-stakes jobs with no pay for weeks on end jeopardizes safety.
"Every moment that we are at work, it requires everything we have, focus, judgment, decisiveness, perfect decision making thousands of times a shift, and what hangs in the balance is our responsibility to safety in order to prevent tragedy," said Nick Daniels, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Even with signs the government shutdown may be coming to an end, which would allow back pay for air traffic controllers, it could take a while for air travel to return to normal. Airlines may not reinstate flights right away but add new ones back gradually.
And the air traffic control system was already struggling before the shutdown, with outdated technology and a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers.
