We’ve officially entered month two of what is now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The impacts of the shutdown have been felt by Americans across industry lines, and they continue to worsen.
As we approach the busiest travel season of the year with the arrival of the holidays, one question hangs over our heads: What’s this doing for airlines?
The people who are central to getting travelers past security and into their terminals are workers for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). On Friday, Oct. 24, TSA workers missed their first paycheck of the shutdown. These workers are now without pay due to the government shutdown that began on Oct.1.
Since the shutdown began, the federal government has had to make some cuts in spending to continue to be able to operate. Some workers have started calling in sick in protest, some have been furloughed (let go due to lack of funds), and some are even working without pay.
In response to the lack of pay for airport workers, some airlines, including United, Delta, American, and JetBlue, have been feeding federal workers. There has been an effort by airlines to show solidarity with the federal workers in this difficult time.
If the government shutdown continues to go on and these workers continue to have to work without pay, there are a lot of impacts we can expect to start seeing: longer security lines, more flight delays, more flight cancellations, and the list goes on.
On Thursday, Nov. 7, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would cut up to 10% of flights at 40 of the busiest airports across the United States. This is said to only affect domestic flights, but could potentially lead to thousands of cancellations if the shutdown continues.
Some of the airports that will be affected by these policies include LAX (in Los Angeles), DFW (in Dallas), DCA (in Washington D.C.), LGA (in New York), and more. This means that the situation for airlines will only worsen.
The FAA claims that there will be a gradual rollout of these policies, starting with 4% on Friday, Nov. 7, and reaching the full 10% on the following Friday, Nov. 14.
Upon speaking to American Airlines pilot Zach Thomas, he said, “It’s impacted our jobs. We’ve already seen a significant number of flight delays, not impacted by weather or maintenance on the planes, but due to air traffic control short staffing.”
When asked what this looks like for pilots trying to do their job, he said, “We’ve been left to sit on the runway and not take off for 45 minutes at a time, and had to avoid shortcuts that we can usually take in flight paths due to the lack of manpower the FAA has.”
In regard to what the shutdown will look like for airlines if it continues, he commented, “It’s only expected to get worse until a budget is passed.” The new policies that the FAA has suggested will undoubtedly exacerbate these issues.
While pilots aren’t the ones losing their paychecks while flying for airlines, their jobs are being impacted by the government shutdown as well.
It can be hard to conceptualize how the government shutdown impacts all areas of life, but it’s our reality that this shutdown has been seen all around. If you have plans to travel this holiday season and the government shutdown doesn’t end in time, TSA has advised travelers to arrive early and be patient and respectful.
The longer this shutdown continues, the more intensely these effects will be felt.
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