The US Travel Association (USTA) estimates the first week of the US government shutdown has cost the country’s travel industry US$1 billion ($1.5 billion) in lost spending.
The federal government shut down from October 1 after Republican and Democrat leaders failed to agree a federal budget, with up to 750,000 federal workers laid off.
Only ‘essential’ employees continue to work, doing so without pay, including air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff.
The USTA warned ahead of the shutdown that a failure to set a budget would cost the travel industry up to $1 billion a week. The association also issued a revised forecast of domestic and international tourism numbers and their spending last week, predicting “a significant decline” in international visitors to the US.
USTA president and chief executive Geoff Freeman said, “This shutdown is doing real, irreversible damage.”
Air traffic control and TSA workers have begun to call in sick, exacerbating the problems, as they increasingly did during the last shutdown in 2018-19 which lasted 35 days. That shutdown only ended after absentee air traffic controllers grounded flights in New York and caused delays across US airspace.
The Foreign Office issued an updated US travel advisory on Thursday warning that there “could be travel disruptions, including flight delays and longer queue times at some airports, due to the current US federal government shutdown.
Smartraveller advises travellers to the US to “Check with your travel provider to see if your travel plans have been affected.”
Flight delays
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on Thursday that the carrier has not seen any impacts from the government shutdown.
“While we are monitoring potential impacts from the U.S. government shutdown, we have not seen a material effect to date,” he said during a call with analysts.
However, Bastian cautioned on CNBC that there could be an impact to Delta the longer the shutdown lasts.
“I would say that if this doesn’t get resolved, say, beyond another 10 days or so, you probably will start to see some impacts,” he said on “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “Remember, no one’s lost a paycheck yet.”
US Airtours chief executive Guy Novik reported “no issues so far” for customers early this week, with the operator having received no calls from clients wishing to postpone trips.
However he also said: “We’ve beefed up resources on our out-of-hours team because we’re anticipating getting calls. Longer queues at immigration could mean people missing flight connections.
“There is no point creating concern when the shutdown will have no impact on some travellers. We’d rather beef up our resources to support customers when something does happen.”
The US Department of Transportation (DoT) confirmed there had been a rise in air traffic controllers reporting in sick this week, with up to half of controllers absent in some control rooms. The DoT said air traffic would be slowed as a result, with a knock-in effect on airline schedules.
Freeman said: “Travellers face longer TSA lines and flight delays. Airports are reducing flights and we’ve seen entire control towers go dark. The longer this drags on, the worse the damage will be – for local communities, for small businesses and for the country. Congress needs to act now and reopen the government.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday that there had been a “slight tick up” in sick calls among air traffic controllers. Air traffic controllers are expected to receive a partial paycheck on October 14.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Will Cain Show,” Duffy said about 53 per cent of delays this past week were a result of staffing shortages, a sharp increase from the typical 5 per cent. There were 1,852 delays out of the US as of Thursday at 12:09 pm ET, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
Attractions
Most federal attractions, including museums, have been closed along with national parks unless they have access to alternative funding.
Travel Weekly US reported some federal-funded attractions and national parks remain open due to donations.
- The Trump administration is funding the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York.
- The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee was able to resume operations at the weekend thanks to local funding.
- Visitor centres at Utah’s five national parks also remained open this week, funded by the governor’s office, as did Colorado’s national parks at least until previously collected fees run out.
- The Smithsonian museums also remained open for the first week of the shutdown while funds lasted.
US air traffic controller sick calls rise as government shutdown enters week two
