The White House warned that increasing absenteeism of airport workers could mean chaos at check-in lines. Photo / Getty Images
US President Donald Trump’s administration has sounded the alarm over potential turmoil at airports as the Government shutdown threatens to drag into November, warning of ruined holiday plans for millions of Americans.
With the standoff in Congress over health care spending now in its fourth week, Trump’s Republicans and the opposition Democrats are facing increasing pressure to end a crisis that has crippled public services.
More than 60,000 air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are working without pay, and the White House warned that increasing absenteeism could mean chaos at check-in lines.
Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the shutdown was already causing “severe impacts” at airports nationwide.
“If the Democrats continue to keep the Government closed, we fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions and cancellations in major airports across the country this holiday season,” she said.
Airport workers calling in sick rather than working without pay – leading to significant delays – was a major factor in Trump bringing an end to the 2019 shutdown, the longest in history at 35 days.
In Congress, House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news conference that airport staffing shortages were now the reason for more than 50% of delays, a huge increase on the normal statistic of 5%.
Some 19,000 flights were held up from Saturday to Monday, he said, warning that this rate was “only going to increase”, with airport workers taking on second jobs as Uber drivers or delivering food.
“The longer the shutdown goes on, and as fewer air traffic controllers show up to work, the safety of the American people is thrown further into jeopardy,” he said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appearing alongside Johnson, said staff in control towers were voicing deepening anger over the shutdown, which has led to an estimated 1.4 million federal workers going without pay.
“I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace, but they’re having to make decisions about how they spend their time, to make sure they put food on their table, feed their kids and support their family members,” he said.
With no end to the shutdown in sight, the gridlock is beginning to take a personal toll on senators, who fly out of Washington most weekends to return to their home districts.
During an earnings call with analysts on Thursday, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 8km from the capital, had suffered “operating delays and issues with air traffic control”.
After weeks of failed daily votes on a House-passed resolution to reopen the Government, the Senate also rejected a bill on Thursday to guarantee pay for troops and some federal employees who have been working for nothing.
Republicans had hoped that a blockade on troop pay would be seen by some Democrats as politically toxic and might be a catalyst to finally break the party’s united stance on the shutdown.
All but three Democrats voted against the bill, however, arguing that it would have given Trump too much sway over who gets paid and who doesn’t, while offering no help for 750,000 workers placed on enforced leave without pay.
Democrats say the only path to reopening the Government is a Trump-led negotiation over their demands to extend subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans – the key sticking point in the standoff.
But Trump has insisted he won’t negotiate with Democrats until the shutdown is over.
Meanwhile, American Airlines reported a smaller than expected loss, pointing to robust travel demand from wealthier customers that has offset weakness among lower-income consumers.
The big US carrier reported a loss of US$114 million ($198m) in the third quarter, smaller than the US$149m loss in the year-ago period and also better than analyst forecasts.
Revenues edged up 0.3% to US$13.7 billion.
American executives described the operating climate as gradually improving throughout the summer months and into the fourth-quarter as macroeconomic uncertainty tied to Trump’s trade policies ebbed.
American chief strategy officer Steve Johnson said premium revenues “have been strong all year long”, but that the biggest improvement in the recent period had been in main cabin revenues where the economic worries were most acute.
“It’s been very difficult on main cabin revenue, the demand from our most price-sensitive customers,” he said in an earnings conference call.
American projected fourth-quarter revenue growth between 3% and 5%.
The government shutdown has loomed over airline results in recent weeks.
Key government employees in air traffic control and airport security continue to work, but are not being paid.
Airlines have described the impact as mostly limited thus far, but executives have warned of a bigger drag if it goes on too long.
American chief executive Robert Isom said the company’s revenues had been hit by less than US$1m a day from diminished government travel at Washington National Airport.
Isom said there had been “some difficulty in terms of operating delays and issues with air traffic control” but that he believed those problems were temporary.
Shares of American rose 4.3%.
-Agence France-Presse