US government shutdown starting to hurt airline passenger bookings, trade group says

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The head of a trade group representing major U.S. airlines told Reuters on Wednesday that carriers are beginning to see a drop-off in passenger bookings as a government shutdown hit a record 36th day on Wednesday.

“We started seeing as an industry pull back on folks booking their travel plans just over a week ago and it’s growing a little bit every day,” said Chris Sununu, who heads Airlines for America that represents American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways and other major carriers, adding carriers are not seeing a jump in cancellations.

“We’re trying to encourage people to stick with their bookings, stick with their travel plans,” Sununu said.

He said airlines are calling lawmakers to urge them to end the shutdown as the busy Thanksgiving holiday period approaches.

“There’s no political party that will win if Thanksgiving gets completely screwed up because of their politics — everybody loses,” Sununu said. “They better get their act together and figure this thing out.”

The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay and snarled tens of thousands of flights.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Tuesday that if the federal government shutdown continues another week it could lead to “mass chaos” and could force him to close some of the national airspace to air traffic, a drastic move that could upend American aviation.

Sununu, the four largest U.S. airlines and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association have all called on Congress to quickly pass a stop-gap funding bill to let the government reopen.

Airlines have repeatedly urged an end to the shutdown, citing aviation safety risks.

U.S. aviation has already faced tens of thousands of flight delays over the last month and more than 3.2 million passengers have been hit by delays or canceled flights due to a spike in air traffic controller absences since Oct. 1.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said on Tuesday that at the agency’s largest 30 airports “anywhere from 20 to 40% of our controllers aren’t coming to work.”

In 2019, widespread disruptions in air travel pressured lawmakers into ending a 35-day government shutdown during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. 

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)