The former F.B.I. director appeared in a brief hearing in federal court. His lawyers sought clarity on the details of a case filed under pressure from President Trump.
The national air space has long been reeling from a staffing crisis among air traffic controllers, as the F.A.A. grapples with a shortage of about 3,000 controllers.
An air traffic control tower at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago in 2023. Staffing shortages were expected to delay flights by over 40 minutes at O’Hare.
The Essential Air Service, which subsidizes flights to small airports, will run out of money on Sunday, and air traffic controllers who have been working without pay have begun calling in sick.
A Delta plane at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, where service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program, in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in 2011.
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