Brace for more air travel delays as government shutdown drags into second month, experts say
Travelers heading to airports this week could face more flight disruptions as air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck late last month and with the government shutdown on track to become the longest in U.S. history.
Nearly 6,000 U.S. flights were delayed Sunday, Nov. 2, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. Newark’s Liberty Airport experienced a four-hour ground delay Sunday, while staffing triggers — a Federal Aviation Administration alert system to indicate that an air traffic control facility is understaffed — were reported at airports including Nashville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Austin, TX; and Denver, Colorado.
Airport delays ‘will get worse’, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy says said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday.
Tuesday’s shutdown is expected to become the longest in history, as it would eclipse the lack of funding in 2018-2019. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees — both considered essential workers — are required to report to work even though their pay is suspended until lawmakers agree on a new deal to fund the federal government.
The longer the shutdown continues, the more likely it will cause flight delays and snarls at security checkpoints, Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going.com, told CBS News.
“This shutdown has been going on for over a month, and it’s really over the last few days that we’ve started to see the seams coming apart,” Nastro said. “It’s not just staff triggers for air traffic control, but we’re seeing TSA lines hit the 3-4 hour mark.”
Some Houston travelers had to wait about an hour to get through airport security lines this weekend, according to CBS affiliate KHOU. Only two out of five security checkpoints are open at Houston’s Bush Airport, the station noted, while the Houston Chronicle reported that some people were having to wait three hours to get through airport security.
Thanksgiving outlook for air travel
If the shutdown extends into November, the real problem could arise during Thanksgiving week, when a record number of Americans should travel for the vacation, Nastro said.
“I would be cautious if this continues through Thanksgiving — we’ll probably see more than 3 million travelers over multiple days,” she said. “At this point, we would find ourselves in almost two months of closure.”
Some vacationers may be better off driving to their destination given the risk of flight disruptions, Nastro added. Booking early morning flights, such as those departing between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., can also help minimize delays, as these departures are more likely to be on time than flights scheduled for later in the day, according to travel data.
Still, experts said air safety is not an issue, given that the FAA will slow flights if there are not enough air traffic controllers directing flights. This was reiterated by Duffy on Sunday, who told “Face the Nation” that the federal government would “stop traffic” if it became a safety issue.
“We are not going to allow this to happen,” Duffy added.
