Some small US airports may have to shut due to a shortage of security screeners if a government funding impasse continues, a senior Trump administration official said yesterday.
The Department of Homeland Security said overall absences among Transportation Security Administration airport security officers was 10.2 per cent on Monday, close to the 10.1pc who failed to show up for duty on Sunday.
But the absenteeism rate was much higher at some major airports on Monday including 30pc at New York’s JFK, 37pc at Atlanta, 35pc at Houston Hobby and 39pc at New Orleans, DHS said.
Some 50,000 TSA officers have been forced to work without pay for the last month due to the budget standoff.
“As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports – particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up,” Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News’s ‘Fox and Friends’.
Large airports may be able to continue security operations by closing all but a few checkpoints, but small airports with a single checkpoint could be unable to staff it with absenteeism at the same rates.
House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday said airports “are reaching a breaking point.”
Typically, under 2pc of TSA workers call in sick or do not report to work, DHS said.
DHS said 366 TSA officers have quit their jobs.
Last fall, a 43-day government shutdown led to widespread flight disruptions, and the FAA ordered a 10pc flight cut at major airports.
Airlines, which expect a record-breaking spring travel season, have criticised the impasse, and airline CEOs complained on Sunday that air travel was again a “political football.”
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