Airports experience flight delays, staffing shortages during shutdown
Staffing shortages hit major airports as TSA and air traffic controllers work unpaid during the government shutdown.
There are two phrases anyone with a plane ticket doesn’t want to hear: flight delayed or flight canceled.
However, under the current government shutdown, the likelihood of flights being cancelled or delayed is growing by the day. Many airports are struggling to maintain flights due to the lack of air traffic controllers, but rural airports are running into an additional problem.
The government shutdown would ultimately impact what is known as the Essential Air Service. While many airlines are pledging to keep flying, a lack of federal funding could eventually complicate air travel for some passengers in smaller communities, including those at five Iowa airports.
What is the Essential Air Service?
Created in 1978, the Essential Air Service guarantees that smaller communities that were served by airlines before the Airline Deregulation Act maintain a basic level of flight service.
The United States Department of Transportation was mandated by Congress to offer access to the National Air Transportation System to communities that qualified for the Essential Air Service. In many cases, that meant funding at least two round-trip flights a day to medium- or large-hub airports with planes that could hold 30 to 50 passengers.
In all, the Essential Air Service serves 177 communities in the United States. Of those, five are in Iowa.
Which Iowa airports are served by the Essential Air Service?
Originally, there were 10 cities that utilized the Essential Air Service. Of those cities, four had two more carriers that offered flight service.
Currently, there are five cities in Iowa that use the Essential Air Service. They are:
- Burlington
- Fort Dodge
- Mason City
- Sioux City
- Waterloo
How does the government shutdown impact the Essential Air Service?
Funding for the Essential Air Service runs out on Oct. 12, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Without that funding, Duffy said, smaller communities that use the Essential Air Service won’t have the resources to continue air service.
“Every state across the country will be impacted by the inability to provide the subsidies to airlines to service these communities,” Duffy said during a news conference on Monday.
Iowa received more than $29 million in Essential Air Service funding, according to the 2024 Department of Transportation’s Subsidized EAS report.
Which airlines serve these Iowa communities under the Essential Air Service?
Three of the five Iowa communities under the Essential Air Service are served by regional airline SkyWest.
United Airlines partners with SkyWest to provide service to passengers in Fort Dodge, Mason City and Sioux City, connecting those cities to larger United hubs.
While the impact of possibly losing subsidies would be substantial, SkyWest intends to continue its service.
“We are working with each community and evaluating our capabilities in the event of a longer-term government shutdown,” a SkyWest representative said in a statement provided to the Des Moines Register. “It is our intent to honor our service commitments, including those under the Federal EAS program, who rely on SkyWest’s reliable air service as an essential economic lifeline.”
American Airlines offers service from Waterloo through its wholly-owned regional carrier Envoy Airlines.
Like SkyWest, American plans to continue its service nationwide through its EAS partners.
“American is proud to provide air service to four communities via the EAS program,” American Airlines said in a statement. “There is an established process between DOT and airlines to receive EAS support, and we understand the process may be temporarily impacted during the government shutdown. American values its partnership with DOT and the EAS communities we serve, and we have no plans to cancel or reduce service in the immediate term.”
Passengers in Burlington have flights on Contour Airlines with service to Chicago. The independent airline has agreements with American and United to allow passengers to connect to flights on those airlines.
“Contour Airlines recognizes the vital nature of the air service we have been entrusted to provide to rural America,” CEO Matt Chaifetz said in a news release shared by the Barkley Regional Airport in Kentucky. “Accordingly, Contour will continue to operate its full flight schedule during the federal government shutdown.
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