The U.S. air travel industry has begun to feel the sting of a lengthening government shutdown amid delayed training for new pilots and air traffic controllers coupled with an uptick in sick leave by transportation security employees required to work without pay.
President Trump is slated to give a national address on Tuesday on the now 18-day shutdown of departments including the Transportation Security Administration, a lapse prompted by White House demands that Congress provide more funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico than lawmakers have been willing to give.
[Read more: Pelosi, Schumer to deliver rebuttal to Trump’s Oval Office address]
The White House is currently deciding whether to declare a national emergency to sidestep Congress and free up money for the wall. Trump wants more than $5 billion in funding to fulfill his signature campaign promise — one he told voters repeatedly that Mexico would pay for. Democrats in both the House and Senate, meanwhile, have vowed to bring legislative activity to a halt until a measure is passed to fund the agencies not covered by a separate government spending legislation last year.
As the shutdown hinders government services and raises questions about potential delays in U.S. tax refunds, U.S. airlines are contending with delays in the certification of new aircraft as well as employee training, according to a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, the industry’s top lobbying group.
“We urge elected leaders to reach an agreement and reopen the federal government quickly,” she said in an emailed statement.
The shutdown has hurt some carriers more than others. Southwest Airlines is “not experiencing any significant impacts to our operation at this time,” a company representative told the Washington Examiner.
American Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Delta Air Lines declined to comment.
Airports are also under pressure. TSA agents — who are deemed essential and therefore must show up for work even though they will not be paid until funding resumes — are calling in sick in higher numbers, spurring concerns over the ability of the agency to continue to oversee travel safety in the U.S.
On Monday, TSA had an unscheduled absence rate of 4.6 percent, up from 3.8 percent a year ago, an agency representative told the Washington Examiner. The uptick is “having minimal impact on operations,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement, adding that 99.9 percent of passengers on Monday waited in security lines for less than 30 minutes.
TSA agents have not yet missed a paycheck, but they will if the shutdown continues past Friday.