PHOENIX – Esteban Rodriguez sat by himself Thursday morning in Terminal 4 of Sky Harbor International Airport. The 20-year-old entrepreneur had turned the terminal into a makeshift work studio, recording on his phone while his laptop charged on a nearby power station.
Rodriguez, a New York City native, was editing videos for his first-ever client at his social media marketing agency while vlogging for his own channel while waiting for his flight home. And waiting, and waiting.
“I have deadlines,” said Rodriguez, who has multiple work-related flights booked for the remainder of the year. “I have places I have to be at certain times. I have stuff to get out to my clients.”
This aspiring entrepreneur wasn’t alone in his anxiety over air travel or in waiting for his flight. Uncertainty continued despite the federal government reopening on Wednesday, leaving air travelers like Rodriguez worried about their schedules being turned upside down.
The uneasiness Rodriguez feels about his plans rings true for millions of travelers across the country who have endured the 43-day record-long government shutdown. Still, FAA-mandated capacity reductions limit airports across the country as air traffic controllers begin to trickle back into work.
As federal employees, including air traffic controllers and TSA agents, were not being paid during the shutdown, the number of people not showing up for work grew. According to an FAA press release on Nov. 6, the previous weekend reported 2,740 delays as a result of “staffing triggers.”
On Thursday, 72 flights at Sky Harbor were delayed, and another 56 had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com. Prominent airlines such as Southwest, American Airlines, and Frontier altered dozens of flights, according to the airport’s database.
Inside Terminal 4 on Thursday, the departure board continued to flash various delays and cancellations.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford announced a new emergency order freezing flight reductions at 6% according to an FAA press release. Although the government is back in business, the status of air travel isn’t back to usual just yet – the 6% flight freeze remains until further notice.
“Our top priority at the FAA is, and always will be, safety,” Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford said, according to a press release on Wednesday. “The data shows that controller staffing is improving rapidly.”
President Donald Trump encouraged air traffic controllers to report back to work through a social media post on Truth Social on Monday. He described the federal government stoppage as a ”Democrat Shutdown Hoax” and warned the air traffic controllers that they will be replaced by “true Patriots.”
The airport frenzy caused a trickle-down effect that went beyond even the passengers and those directly impacted by the shutdown, according to employees at Sky Harbor. John, 61, is a manager for the American Building Maintenance Company, working as an airport wheelchair assistance service at Sky Harbor.
Just after midnight on Nov 6, Sky Harbor saw 27 planes land, while according to John, that number is typically just a few. The influx of late arrivals has thrown ABM off its course.
“Passengers are a little on edge, and everybody’s just a little uptight about what’s going on,” said John, who asked Cronkite News not to use his last name, for fear of hurting his and his employees’ ability to keep their work hours. “We need to take passengers off the plane. Normally, they’ll be out at 10:30; now they’re out at 12:30 or 1, so it’s throwing everybody off.”
The awkward flight times have hurt the income of his employees, many of whom receive tips from customers for wheeling them through the airport, John said. Fewer flights mean fewer tips.
“A flight that they would’ve normally had a passenger on and maybe got tipped now goes to the next shift,” John said. “It’s disrupting people’s pay.”
Getting through TSA has been a seamless experience, with Sky Harbor experiencing short wait times of under 10 minutes according to the airport’s website; however, the long delays begin after passengers breeze through security.
Sky Harbor does not have information on a return timeline for controller staff or when FAA regulations will change. Public relations personnel, Monica Hernandez, advised passengers to continue to check online for flight updates.
“Passengers should continue to confirm their flight status with their airline before coming to the airport,” Herndez told Cronkite News in a statement Thursday. “Go to skyharbor.com for information on security checkpoint wait times, airline contact information, and amenities at the airport.”
Despite the ongoing uncertainty, air travelers like Ben Thompson, 37, sympathize with those employees working without pay for 43 days and the uneasiness they’ve lived with about their future. Federal employees could begin receiving retroactive pay, depending on pay periods, as early as Nov. 15, according to Semafor.com
“I was praying earlier for all the people who aren’t getting paychecks,” Thompson said while checking his bags for a flight to Oakland. “ I might be inconvenienced by not traveling, but they’re not getting paid, which means they’re not putting food on their table, feeding their family.”
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