Airlines warn that flight cancellations will continue even after the lockdown

The flight disruptions that have marred air travel for millions of people in recent weeks may continue even after the government shutdown ends, airlines and the transportation minister said.

The Senate on Monday evening passed a bill that could end the longest federal government shutdown in history, sending it to the House of Representatives for a vote.

But Transport Minister Sean Duffy said on Tuesday that would not be an immediate solution.

“We will wait to see the data on our side before we remove travel restrictions, but that depends on the controllers returning to work,” Duffy said at a press conference at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Duffy also warned that the severe unrest over the past few days could get worse without an agreement.

The Senate vote came as staffing shortages for air traffic controllers, who are being asked to work below their normal salaries during the shutdown, have led to thousands of flights being delayed or canceled, with problems worsening in recent days. State and union officials said monitors missed their second full paychecks due to the shutdown this week, and some have taken second jobs and are working with increasing levels of stress.

Even if the House approves the bill that would fund the federal government through January, airlines said they would need time to readjust.

“Airlines’ reduced flight schedules cannot immediately return to full capacity immediately after the government reopens,” said Airlines for America, a lobbying group for airlines including Delta Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlineshe said late Monday. “It will take time, and there will be residual effects for several days. With the Thanksgiving travel period starting next week and the busy shipping season just around the corner, the time to act now is to help mitigate any further impacts on Americans.”

Airlines will need time to reconfigure schedules and locate planes and crews, something they were forced to quickly address by reducing requested flights last week.

American Airlines said that more than 5 million passengers have been affected by staffing problems at airlines since the closure began on October 1. The disruptions have prompted some passengers to look for alternatives, from buses to rental cars and even private planes.

The Trump administration last Friday began requiring commercial airlines to reduce domestic flights by 4% at 40 busy US airports, with deeper cuts on the way if the shutdown does not end, with officials blaming the pressure on air traffic controllers.

Aviation groups said record numbers of travelers are expected to arrive over the Thanksgiving period, with the holiday only two weeks away.

Just over 5% of the 22,811 scheduled US departures were canceled on Tuesday, a relatively light day for travel overall, according to aviation data company Cirium. This is lower than the cancellation rate of 8.7% on Monday, or 2,239 flights, and 2,633 cancellations on Sunday, or 10.2% of the schedule. Delays have also accumulated due to staffing shortages and inclement weather at major hubs, including Chicago O’Hare.

Lockdowns, like the one that occurred in late 2018 to early 2019, have highlighted the stresses of flying. But the previous closure ended hours later as a shortage of air traffic controllers disrupted air traffic in the New York area.

Aviation groups on Tuesday urged lawmakers not only to end the shutdown but also to provide more funding from the Department of Transportation to help modernize air traffic control and hire more controllers, which were in short supply even before the shutdown began.

“The government shutdown has disrupted this work and slowed the strong momentum we had built to modernize,” the Modern Skies Alliance, which includes major airlines, airports and aviation groups such as Boeing, General Electric Aerospace and others, as well as labor unions, in an open letter to Congress.

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to cut the salaries of absent air traffic controllers. “ALL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS MUST BACK TO WORK NOW!!!,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding that he would recommend $10,000 bonuses to any air traffic controllers who were not absent during the shutdown.

Duffy said he supported Trump’s idea and that he was concerned about the dedication and “patriotism” of observers who did not show up for work. “If we have monitors who are not doing their work systematically, we will take the necessary measures,” he said.

Duffy said monitors will receive about 70% of their salaries within two days of the shutdown ending.

A day earlier, Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Union, said it took about two and a half months before workers recovered from the shutdown that ended in 2019.

Duffy said the shutdown has made recruiting air traffic control employees more difficult, with 15 to 20 of them retiring daily instead of about four daily before the government shutdown. He said the country is nearly 2,000 control units short of what the system needs.

“The job of maintaining aviation safety and security is difficult every day, but forcing federal employees to do so without pay is unacceptable,” the Modern Skies Alliance wrote in its open letter. “We owe public servants at the FAA and other agencies that support aviation, such as the National Transportation Safety Board, TSA and Customs and Border Protection, a debt of gratitude and a speedy end to this shutdown.”