Is it safe to fly amid government shutdown? What you need to know before booking your flight

The U.S. government shutdown entered its ninth day on Oct. 9, and cracks are starting to show in the travel world. There have been some flight delays at airports due to the funding pause, as per the report by USA Today.

Travellers are fretting over their schedules as two major airport services run by the federal government. Experts say that changes as of now are minimal, they are enough to wreck travel schedules for passengers.

How the Shutdown is affecting flights

Because of the shutdown, the TSA and air traffic controllers would be working without pay, making it more stressful for them as they need the money once the government starts functioning again
Not all delays are due to the shutdown, weather still causes many flight delays. In past shutdowns, unpaid workers started calling out of work, leading to longer security lines and airport delays. Sheldon Jacobson, aviation expert and professor at the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering, said, “The air traffic controllers get a little tired, a little frustrated. Historically, this has happened and it’s happening now”, as stated in the report by USA Today.

He added that delays and cancellations could grow if the shutdown lasts longer. This week, the FAA had to start “flow control programs” at several U.S. airports to handle understaffing. During an Oct. 6 news conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they will take action when needed to ensure safety.

“If we see those issues in the tower that are affecting controllers’ ability to effectively control the airspace, we’ll reduce the rate, and you can see more delays or you can see a cancellation,” he said.

Can you fly safely during a government shutdown?

Officials say it’s still safe to fly, because the FAA will limit the number of flights if needed to match the number of available controllers. But Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said there are some safety concerns.“Air traffic controllers are coming to work under an increasingly unsafe scenario, because, in safety, we know, the first rule is to remove all distractions.” Nelson also told USA TODAY that many behind-the-scenes safety activities are paused right now.“Right now we’re concerned that we don’t have people doing the weather service, we can have very serious turbulence injuries at work. We don’t have much of the people who do our cybersecurity work feeding intel to the TSA”, as mentioned in the report by USA Today.

Air traffic control already had staffing shortages, and the shutdown is making that worse. In his press conference, Duffy said the shutdown adds a mental burden on air traffic controllers. “Now, what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, how am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple of kids at home. How do I put food on the table?”

He added that some may even need to take second jobs, which adds more stress and exhaustion. Still, Nelson said passengers should not panic. “I want to assure travelers that there are hundreds of thousands of aviation workers on the front line who ask the question ‘is it safe?’ so the traveling public cannot take safety for granted. We are not going to fly if it’s not safe.”

What all will be affected as the shutdown continues?

The TSA has already warned that longer the shutdown lingers, the greater would be the airline delays as some federal employees might stop showing up at work due to lack of salary payments.

“While TSA is prepared to continue screening about 2.5M passengers a day, an extended shutdown could mean longer wait times at airports. We kindly ask for our passengers’ patience during this time,” the post said as per the report by USA Today. Airports are still operating normally, but the longer the shutdown lasts, the more strain it puts on the system.

According to Jacobson, recovery depends on how fast workers get paid again. “With air traffic control, ultimately, how long will it take for people to get paid? That’s really what the bottleneck is. In past shutdowns, flight delays and TSA issues were fixed soon after workers got paid again. But this time, no one knows when things will get back to normal because some workers are missing work, and that makes it hard to guess how quickly everything will run smoothly again.

FAQs

Q1. Is it safe to fly during the government shutdown?

Yes, officials say it’s still safe to fly because the FAA is limiting flights to what air traffic controllers can safely handle, as per the report by USA Today.

Q2. Will the government shutdown cause flight delays or cancellations?

Some airports may see longer lines or delays due to staff shortages, but major flight disruptions remain limited so far, according to USA Today.