A lone traveler passes through a nearly empty TSA security screening area at Orlando International Airport ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton on October 9, 2024 in Orlando, Florida.
Paul Hennessy | Anadolu | Getty Images
A government shutdown looms just as the peak holiday travel season begins.
Lawmakers stalled and on Thursday rejected a short-term bill to continue funding the U.S. government. The bill received support from President-elect Donald Trump. If no deal is reached, the shutdown could begin as early as 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Hundreds of thousands of government workers will be furloughed if Congress fails to pass a spending bill.
What does this mean for air travel?
Commercial aircraft will continue to fly, even if grounded.
Airlines are expecting the year-end holiday season to be their busiest on record. The Transportation Security Administration expects its agents to screen more than 40 million people during the holiday, which ends on Jan. 2. united airlines The airline alone announced that 9.9 million people will fly between December 19th and January 6th, an increase of 12% from last year.
The government has deemed more than 14,000 air traffic controllers and nearly 60,000 TSA employees essential, meaning they will continue to work during the shutdown, although they will not be paid.
Are you prepared for long lines?
TSA employees “will continue to work without pay in the event of a shutdown,” the agency’s administrator, David Pekoske, said Thursday on social media platform X.
TSA said in a statement Friday that “officials are preparing to accommodate the large volume of travelers and ensure the safety of our transportation systems, but an extended closure could result in longer wait times at airports. ” he said.
What happened last time?
The last time the government was shut down was for more than a month in late 2018 and early 2019.
During that closure, calls from several air traffic controllers disrupted air traffic in highly congested airspace along the U.S. East Coast. Shortly thereafter, then-President Trump and lawmakers reached an agreement to end the longest unfunded government shutdown in U.S. history.
Airlines leaders are worried about congestion. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration is once again without a permanent administrator after FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, who was appointed by President Joe Biden last year, announced that he would resign on January 20 to coincide with President Trump’s inauguration. It has become.
Modernizing air traffic control and hiring more controllers should be the FAA administrator’s next priority. delta airlines CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC earlier this week.
