Airports and airlines are crawling out of lockdown

On Wednesday evening, The longest government shutdown in US history has ended. The Flyers expressed hope that this would also end the looming specter of airport cancellations and delays. Thanksgiving is coming, and with it the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the busiest travel day of the year.

Aviation experts say travelers should expect scattered delays and cancellations, as airlines bring back crews and planes after weeks of severe staff shortages. Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration It began asking airlines to cancel flightsup to 6 percent of them earlier this week at 40 of the country’s busiest airports. The agency said this measure is necessary to keep the airspace safe as observers and security professionals They missed their second straight paycheck. The effects of this decision were exacerbated by the insufficient number of observers on duty, which led to delays and cancellations across the country.

However, in the next few days, it will be difficult to separate the delays associated with the service shutdown from the usual chaos of the holiday season. “It’s going to be difficult to get everything up and running quickly,” says Tim Keifer, a former air traffic controller who is now a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “But you were going to have some delays due to weather or equipment or staffing issues, whether there was a government shutdown or not.”

“Airlines cannot flip the switch and resume normal operations immediately after the vote, and there will be residual effects for several days,” Chris Sununu, president and CEO of airline trade group Airlines for America, said in a statement. Written statement.

Some residual effects It can last longeras workers in the aviation system face another interruption to their work and payroll. Federal employees have gone through four shutdowns in the past two decades. Monitors have been working particularly long hours amid worker shortages for nearly 15 years, as years of understaffing, mandatory retirement at age 56, and interruptions to training in the COVID era have made it difficult for new monitors to get certified and enter facilities. It can take about two years – and up to five years – to train new workers to be air traffic controllers.

Unlike previous shutdowns, the F.A.A. She kept her academy open in Oklahoma Cityso the workers did not have to stop their training (although they and their trainers did not receive pay). However, the process of recruiting new controllers was halted during the lockdown period. The FAA did not respond to questions about how and when it might restart the hiring process.

“Does this prevent recruitment?” Kiefer says. “There’s a possibility that (potential observers) will say: ‘I don’t want to go through the appropriations process every 16 months and not get my money.’

And speaking of wages: It could take weeks for federal workers to become full workers. In 2019, Kiefer said, he didn’t get his full salary until about five weeks after Congress reopened the government.