How the government shutdown will impact travel, from airports to national parks

The federal government officially shut down for the first time in nearly seven years after Congress failed to pass a funding bill for the new fiscal year by the Wednesday 1 October deadline. As a result, thousands of federal employees will be furloughed or required to work without pay, which will impact operations and staffing levels at airports and national parks nationwide.

The government shutdown is estimated to cost the nation’s tourism industry $1 billion per week (almost £742 million) in addition to placing an “unnecessary strain on an already overextended federal travel workforce,” Geoff Freeman, CEO and president of the US Travel Association, said in a statement.

The extent to which travellers will feel the repercussions on upcoming trips depends on how long the government remains closed. “The longer a shutdown drags on, the more likely we are to see longer TSA lines, flight delays and cancellations, national parks in disrepair, and unnecessary delays in modernising travel infrastructure,” Freeman said. Here’s everything travellers need to know.

This article has been updated with new information since its original publication date.

Government employees in the air travel sector, including air traffic controllers and TSA officers, are deemed “essential” and thus must continue working even during a government shutdown. However, they won’t receive pay as long as the government remains closed.

This could lead to a frustrated workforce and labour issues, such as overworked employees taking sick leave, as a result. To be safe, travellers should plan for longer lines at security checkpoints and potential flight delays, especially considering the current state of the US air traffic controller workforce.

These effects may not be felt immediately, but matters could reach a breaking point if a shutdown persists for an extended period. For example, air traffic controllers effectively ended the longest shutdown in US history during the first Trump administration in 2019 when fed-up ATC staff began calling out sick en masse at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

Regardless, a government shutdown isn’t the time to cut it close to take off: follow the old rule of thumb to arrive two hours before a domestic flight and three hours ahead of international departures.

When air travel systems are strained, officials may decide to reduce the number of daily flights at specific airports, resulting in flight cancellations. For instance, when Newark Airport had issues with air traffic control staffing and other operational challenges this summer, federal officials decided to reduce the number of flights allowed to take off and land per hour at the New Jersey hub. A similar scenario could unfold if the government shutdown begins to compromise the safety of regular flight operations.

US airlines urged lawmakers to keep the government running, saying that to maintain safety, the nation’s air travel “system may need to slow down, reducing efficiency,” according to a statement from lobbying group Airlines for America, which represents the largest seven airlines in the US. “When federal employees who manage air traffic, inspect aircraft and secure our nation’s aviation system are furloughed or working without pay, the entire industry and millions of Americans feel the strain,” the statement says.

Aside from snarled airport operations, the government shutdown could have a long-term impact on the national air system. According to a Department of Transportation's plan for budget lapses and shutdowns released earlier this year, operations like air traffic controller hiring and field training will be halted during government closures. That could stymie important progress the department has made in hiring more than 2,000 new air traffic controllers so far this year to help alleviate chronic understaffing in towers around the country.

Additionally, the development, testing, and evaluation of technology to revamp air traffic control operations – an FAA initiative called NextGen – would also be paused during the shutdown, per the DOT plan. That means a delay to the rollout of sorely needed equipment improvements in airports around the nation.

US national parks will be kept partially open during the duration of the government shutdown, according to a National Park Service (NPS) contingency plan published on Tuesday 30 September. Accessible areas such as park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air sites “will generally remain accessible to visitors,” the plan says, while buildings and monuments, such as park visitor centres, will be closed.

The national parks that remain open to the public will use recreation fees to fund basic visitor services, including restrooms and sanitation, trash collection, road maintenance, campground operations, law enforcement, emergency operations, and staffing entrance gates as necessary to provide critical safety information. However, “If visitor access becomes a safety, health, or resource protection issue (weather, road conditions, resource damage, garbage build-up to the extent that it endangers human health or wildlife, etc.), the area must be closed,” the NPS says.

Some state governments have vowed to keep their national parks and monuments running with local funds in the event of a shutdown. Utah, for one, has promised that the state’s “Mighty Five” national parks, including Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and Zion will all be accessible. Colorado has also indicated it might use state funds to keep Rocky Mountain National Park open if necessary.

Non-profit groups are advocating for all national parks to be closed to the public during the shutdown, citing unsupervised visits to national parks during the 2019 shutdown that caused irreparable damage to sites, including the vandalisation of prehistoric petroglyphs and the destruction of Joshua trees. “[T]he administration is once again putting our national parks and visitors at risk, effectively directing staff to open park gates and walk away,” Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “Visitors may enter, but very few staff will be there to protect the parks or the people inside."

Based on the NPS contingency plan, about 64 per cent of the park service workforce is set to be furloughed during the shutdown, impacting over 9,000 employees. The remaining 2,700 federal workers will perform “excepted activities” such as emergency response, border protection, fire suppression, and public health and safety.

In the past, most federal employees furloughed during government shutdowns have returned to work and received back pay after a funding agreement has been reached. However, President Donald Trump has said he plans to use the shutdown to push for more mass layoffs at federal agencies. While it's not yet clear if NPS employees will be targeted, the shutdown is poised to strain a workforce that has already been greatly diminished.

If you are reconsidering an upcoming national park trip, state parks will be open and fully staffed, making for a good alternative trip.

Train journeys on Amtrak are not affected in the event of government closure. Although Amtrak is federally funded and chartered with the US government as its controlling shareholder, it operates as a for-profit corporation. Amtrak employees are not federal workers, and the company receives federal funds through various government grants and congressional appropriations, separate from the budget bill under debate.

Most travel insurance policies should offer assistance in the event of a government shutdown. “If a government shutdown results in airline or airport disruptions that impact your trip, it can trigger trip delay, trip cancellation, or trip interruption coverage benefits,” says Jeff Rolander, vice president of claims at Faye Travel Insurance.

This article was first published on Condé Nast Traveler.