Skift airline reporter Meghna Maharishi breaks down how the government shutdown is hitting air traffic control—and what it means for travelers and flight safety
00:00With the ongoing federal government shutdown impacting many sectors and parts of the economy across the country,
00:06the airline industry is facing, once again, significant strain from staffing shortages to potential outright system failures.
00:13Meghna Maharishi is an airline reporter at SCIFT.
00:16She joins us now to break down the ongoing impact on travelers, airports, and the state of air traffic control.
00:22Meghna, welcome. Nice to have you.
00:25Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:26So today, I believe we're at day seven. Yes, October 7th.
00:30How has this ongoing now week-long government shutdown immediately impacted air travel across the United States?
00:37So, so far, I would say right now the impact has been fairly minimal, only because it's been a week.
00:44However, I will say I think by the end of the week, you can expect more knock-on effects of this shutdown to impact air travel.
00:53My apologies.
00:54You can expect at the end of this week more of those knock-on effects of the shutdown to impact air travel,
01:00because as Secretary Duffy said yesterday, the essential air service subsidies for airlines that operate flights in rural communities,
01:11that's, that funding is going to run out on Sunday.
01:13So those communities are going to start to be affected by the shutdown.
01:17And air traffic controllers are set to miss their next paycheck, I believe, by next Tuesday,
01:23which is what Secretary Duffy had said at Newark on Monday as well.
01:26And I think by the time once they miss their first paycheck, I think there's a greater concern that absenteeism among those air traffic controllers can increase.
01:35Secretary Duffy already had said there's been a slight tick-up in sick calls among air traffic controllers already.
01:43And yesterday, there were also some ground delays at airports across the U.S.
01:47But the longer the shutdown goes on, you can definitely, I think, expect more flight delays at airports across the country.
01:54Secretary Duffy.
02:24Yes, I will say I think the New York area generally is an air, is a geography that has been strained quite heavily by a lack of staffing among air traffic controllers and dated equipment.
02:36I think the issues have been magnified the most in Newark, as we saw in May.
02:40But I think the, the longer the shutdown goes on, I think if there are delays out of some of the busiest airports in this country,
02:46that is going to anger a lot of travelers.
02:48And I think it is going to eventually have to force Congress to act, to come up with some sort of deal to reopen the government.
02:55What are you hearing from air traffic controllers themselves, unions even, about current staffing levels as the shutdown rolls on?
03:04I think this time around, this shutdown is even more tenuous for air traffic controllers, just given how strained the system already is.
03:12As the president of the air traffic controllers union, he had said that these are some of the lowest staffing levels that they have experienced so far.
03:20And this has been pretty much an ongoing issue since the pandemic among air traffic controllers.
03:25They have struggled, I think, to recruit new air traffic controllers.
03:28And there just have been staffing shortages that have been snarling operations for a long time.
03:34And this shutdown is only going to exacerbate that.
03:37I wonder, are there other parts of the broader travel, excuse me, ecosystem, outside of airlines, maybe things like airport maintenance, security, federal contractors, that are also being hit as the shutdown rolls on?
03:50Yes, some projects are already being put on pause, I believe, in the New York area, the 2nd Avenue subway construction that's been put on pause, for example.
04:00And I think also just beyond other travel impacts of the shutdown, a lot of national parks are going to, you know, have their own policies on how if they decide to remain open during this shutdown, some of the states like might decide to fund them.
04:12Some might not. But in 2019, with the national parks, during that shutdown, it did become an issue where there was like litter everywhere.
04:20And I think it became a generally unpleasant experience for visitors.
04:24It's also worth noting that museums like the Smithsonian, like those could also remain closed during the shutdown.
04:30So, you know, if you're traveling to D.C. for a vacation or something now might not honestly be the best time, given that a lot of those sites might be closed.
04:39Well, Magna, you tell me now I'm off to Washington, D.C. on Sunday.
04:44It is for work, not for sightseeing, but it's a good note regardless.
04:48I wonder from your reporting, if this shutdown were to continue, if it were to persist for an extended time, are there particular systems you would expect to break down or show strain first?
05:00Definitely air traffic control.
05:02I think, you know, air traffic control in the airspace in this country is generally very safe, despite some of the scrutiny that it's gotten this past year.
05:10But as I've said again, like the system is also extremely strained.
05:15Right now, the DOT has said that they would continue efforts to recruit and train air traffic controllers.
05:20However, it does become an issue when those employees start not getting their paychecks and then they can't pay their bills and then they decide to like resort to other work to make ends meet.
05:31That's exactly what happened in 2019 with air traffic controllers.
05:34And that was why absenteeism increased so much among them at that time.
05:38And it got to a point where, you know, operations at LaGuardia were temporarily shut down back then, that it had to force senators and congressmen to act and find some sort of deal to get the government to reopen.
05:50People really don't like it when their travel is disrupted.
05:54Meg, I wonder how airlines have been responding to these challenges.
05:57I know we'll hear from Delta set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday of this week.
06:01Have the airlines yet said they're prepared to adjust scheduled, add new resources, or give certain types of advisements or warnings to passengers?
06:11So I can say that airlines are definitely not happy about this shutdown.
06:16The air traffic control issues have already been a major thorn for them, especially in the New York area with very slot constrained airports like LaGuardia and Newark that are just already very congested.
06:26The airline industry has already cautioned that a shutdown would lead to a slowdown in operations for them.
06:33And I think also things like the essential air service subsidies, that is also up in the air as for what each airline is going to decide to do once the funding runs out on Sunday.
06:43Alaska Airlines has so far said it will continue operating those flights.
06:47But those flights and those communities are not technically profitable routes for airlines.
06:51So they might take some sort of minor hit during the shutdown because of that.
06:56Magna Maharishi is an airline reporter at Skift, a very good one at that.
07:03And we're very grateful for her time and contact.
07:04So we continue to cover the wide-ranging implications of the ongoing funding fight in Washington.
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