The chief executive officers (CEOs) from multiple major U.S. airlines on March 15 urged Congress to quickly end a 29-day government shutdown that has disrupted air travel and forced 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to work without pay.
In a joint letter to Congress on Sunday, CEOs from multiple major U.S. airlines said it is “simply unacceptable” to expect TSA officers to work without pay.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car, and pay rent when you are not getting paid,” wrote the CEOs of Alaska Air, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and others.
The airlines noted travel for spring break is already underway, with FIFA World Cup 2026 coming up and celebrations for America’s 250th birthday scheduled throughout the year.
“But too many travelers are having to wait in extraordinarily long—and painfully slow—lines at checkpoints. Wait times of 2, 3 and even 4 hours have been reported. Airlines are doing everything we can to mitigate disruption by holding flights for late passengers and rebooking others,” the CEOs said.
They called on congressional leaders to come together immediately to negotiate a deal to fund DHS and end the partial government shutdown.
“Then they need to act so this problem never happens again,” the CEO added. “Once again air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown.”
The previous government shutdown last fall, which broke records and lasted 43 days, caused mass flight disruptions and forced the Federal Aviation Administration to order 10 percent flight reductions at major airports nationwide.
The group of CEOs, which also includes senior executives from cargo carriers UPS and FedEx, urged Congress to pass legislation ensuring that critical government aviation workers are paid in any future government shutdowns.
On Thursday, the Senate failed to pass competing efforts from both Democrats and Republicans to fund TSA.
DHS’s funding lapsed last month after Congress was unable to strike a deal on immigration reforms that Democrats have demanded after federal immigration enforcement agents shot and killed two protesters during operations in Minnesota earlier this year.
The partial government shutdown comes as airlines are expecting a record-breaking spring travel period. Airlines anticipate 171 million passengers to fly this season, an increase of 4 percent from the same two-month window in 2025.
Airport delays have steadily increased, with Newark saying on Saturday that it was seeing higher-than-normal delays.
“Americans—who live in your districts and home states—are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays, and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown,” the CEOs wrote in their letter to lawmakers.
Republicans have blamed Democrats for the shutdown after the latter called for reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Democrats have criticized their GOP colleagues for voting against bills they have offered to fund every agency within DHS, including TSA, separately from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, while negotiations continue over funding for immigration enforcement.