United States President Donald Trump signed legislation on
Wednesday night that ended the record-breaking, 43-day shutdown, just hours
after the House of Representatives voted 222-209 to reopen the government.
According to Reuters.com, the new government funding extension deal will
run through January 30, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers receiving
back pay and air traffic controllers returning to work.
As for the impact on air travel, the Department of
Transportation said flight reductions at 40 major U.S. airports will remain at
six percent instead of the previously announced 10 percent, as the Federal
Aviation Administration is expecting a “rapid decline” in air traffic
controller callouts.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told The Associated Press, “If the FAA safety team determines
the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to
resume normal operations.”
Flight delays continued into Thursday, though, as FlightAware.com
is reporting that more than 1,000 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were
canceled as of 1:30 p.m. ET, while another 1,583 were delayed. On Wednesday,
910 flights were canceled and 2,668 were delayed.
American Airlines released a statement on the end of the
government shutdown:
“After 43 days, American Airlines is pleased that the
longest government shutdown in U.S. history has ended. The shutdown led to
widespread delays and cancellations across the country, in addition to
FAA-required cancellations, because federal aviation professionals were not
being paid. This impacted hundreds of thousands of our customers.”
Delta Air Lines also issued a statement following the
funding bill’s passage:
“Delta appreciates the work of the U.S. Congress to reopen
the federal government. We are extremely grateful to all the federal workers
including air traffic controllers and officers with the Transportation Security
Administration and Customs and Border Protection who worked without a paycheck
for more than 40 days to keep our skies safe and secure—and to Delta people who went above and beyond to
take care of our customers and government workers during the longest government
shutdown in U.S. history. We look forward to bringing our operation back to
full capacity over the next few days and delivering the premium experience our
customers expect as we look ahead to the holiday season.”
U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman was
more critical of the shutdown as an abdication of congressional responsibility:
“All government shutdowns are irresponsible—period. They
jeopardize essential services, erode public confidence and inflict needless
economic pain. If Congress ever goes down this foolish path again, essential
federal workers—like air traffic controllers and TSA officers—must be paid
without interruption. America cannot afford another self-inflicted crisis that
threatens the systems millions rely on every day.”
“This resolution restores stability to the people and
systems that keep travel moving—but it must also drive long-term change.
Congress should invest in the modern infrastructure, technology and workforce
needed to keep America moving forward.”
The American Hotel & Lodging Association President and
CEO Rosanna Maietta noted the dramatic effect on holiday plans for Americans in
the days leading up to Thanksgiving:
“Over the past several days, the federal workforce designed
to support and oversee our travel ecosystem began to show cracks at the seams.
In light of these conditions, nearly 20 percent of Americans have indicated
that they cancelled or changed their Thanksgiving travel plans. The economic
uncertainty associated with the shutdown coupled by the reality of travel
disruptions rattled consumer confidence, leading to trip cancellations and
decreased future bookings.”
The Global Business Travel Association estimates the U.S.
business travel industry generates $421 billion in direct spending to the U.S.
economy. CEO Suzanne Neufang focused on the economic damage at stake when that industry
is disrupted.
“Productive business travel is a cornerstone of a healthy
U.S. economy as well as relationship building in times of economic uncertainty.
Going forward, we hope Congress can continue this collaboration as they revisit
the budget at the end of January.”
Whether that collaboration will happen or not, only time
will tell. The issues at the heart of Congressional policy, such as healthcare costs, have not been fully addressed.
For now, as far as travel is concerned, compensation for government air traffic controllers
and transportation security administration workers is back online. Air traffic
controllers will see a lump sum payment equal to 70 percent of their backpay
within 48 hours of the shutdown ending, according to Duffy. However, he also said
that ATCs who called out from work prior to missing an actual paycheck (which
would have been issued Oct. 28) may face consequences.
"My concern is, for those air traffic controllers who,
before they missed a paycheck, and were in the shutdown, they decided on a
continual basis not to show up for work," Duffy said at a news conference
in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. "They don't know how long the
shutdown was going to be, they hadn't missed a pay period, and they didn't come
to work." Duffy did not mention whether he was considering any consequences
for TSA workers who may have called out prior to missing an actual paycheck.
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A version of this story originally ran in TravelPulse, another news outlet in Northstar Travel Group's portfolio. BTN updated and offered additional perspective relative to the corporate travel industry.