A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 plane passes by the Capitol dome in Washington as it comes in for a landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Nov. 9, 2025.

Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

No sky perks for you!

Delta Air Lines suspended its airport escorts and red coat services for members of Congress and their staff because of the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the air carrier said Tuesday.

The move comes a week after Delta CEO Ed Bastian blasted Congress during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” for failing to authorize pay for Transportation Security Administration agents during the shutdown of the agency that includes TSA.

“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” Delta said in a statement to CNBC.

“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,” the airline said.

Delta’s action was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Delta’s Capital Desk, which is a reservation line for members of Congress and staffers, remains open.

But for now, those customers will be treated like any other passengers based on their respective Sky Miles status.

The move comes as airports around the U.S., including major hubs in cities such as Atlanta, where Delta is based, are seeing extra-long security lines as a result of elevated absences by TSA agents, who are set to miss their second full paycheck this week.

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Bastian last week fumed to CNBC that it is “inexcusable that our security agents, our frontline agents, that are essential to what we do, are not being paid. And it’s ridiculous to see them being used as political chips.

“So, we’re outraged,” Bastian said.

“And if there’s a call to action here — and I think over 90% of the American public supports those people getting paid — ask our folks right here in Washington to do their job, get our people paid. They can do it,” the CEO said.

United Airlines, when asked by CNBC if it had suspended its similar perks for members of Congress, said, “We don’t have any changes to announce today.”

CNBC has requested comment from American Airlines about its services for federal lawmakers.

Airline executives have railed against lawmakers in recent months, urging them to ensure that essential government workers like TSA officers are paid during shutdowns, which have become increasingly common.

Repeated funding impasses, including in early 2019 and as recently as last fall, ended shortly after absences of government workers who were required to work without pay increased.

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House for Florida, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 20, 2026.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

President Donald Trump on ​Saturday ​threatened ​to send federal ⁠immigration agents ‌to U.S. ⁠airports unless congressional Democrats immediately ‌agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

“I will move our ⁠brilliant and ‌patriotic ‌ICE Agents to the Airports ⁠where they will ⁠do ⁠Security like no one ​has ‌ever seen before,” Trump wrote in ​a Truth Social post. The Trump administration has faced heavy criticism for aggressive deportation tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

Trump claimed ICE agents handling airport security would arrest immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, specifically targeting individuals from Somalia.

In a separate post later in the day, Trump said he plans to move ICE agents into airports as soon as Monday, telling them to “GET READY.”

“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’ NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!” he wrote.

When asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump’s social media. DHS did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

A bipartisan group of senators met with DHS border czar Tom Homan last night to discuss additional immigration enforcement concessions made by the White House on Friday in an attempt to end the partial government shutdown, POLITICO reported, citing lawmakers in attendance.

The Senate is in session Saturday and Sunday, working on other legislative issues, but it is unclear whether further talks or a vote on the new DHS funding proposal will take place.

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Democrats are demanding changes to how federal immigration enforcement operates in exchange for releasing the funding. The White House and Democrats have been trading proposals for over a month but have not yet come to an agreement on a deal.

The DHS shutdown has been less disruptive than last year’s record-long government shutdown. But since much of DHS is considered essential, employees are required to work without pay.

The effects of the funding lapse and lack of pay are being felt at U.S. airports, where Transportation Security Administration agents are quitting or calling out sick. DHS employees missed their first full paychecks last week.

The shortage of agents has caused obscenely long lines at security checkpoints, including in Atlanta and Houston, where spring break travel is in full swing.

“If a deal ⁠isn’t ‌cut, you’re going to see what’s happening today ⁠look like child’s play,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNN on Friday. Earlier in the week, Duffy warned that smaller airports could shut down entirely soon due to staffing.

In a separate post earlier in the day, Tesla CEO and former Trump advisor Elon Musk said he would like to cover the paychecks of TSA ⁠officers as the shutdown continues.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of ‌TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout ​the country,” Musk, the world’s richest man, said in a post on X.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The average salary for TSA agents is about $46,000 to $55,000, according to a recent Associated Press report.

It’s unclear how such an offer would work.

Last year, Trump announced a wealthy, unnamed donor provided $130 million to help cover military pay shortfalls caused by the administration’s first government shutdown, the longest in history. That mystery donor was revealed to be Timothy Mellon, an heir to a renowned Gilded Age banking family, The New York Times later reported.

But Mellon’s donation worked out to only about $100 per service member. It costs nearly $6.4 billion to pay U.S. troops every two weeks. And such a donation might have violated the Antideficiency Act, which bars federal agencies from spending funds that have not been appropriated by Congress, the Times reported.

— Annie Nova and Dan Mangan contributed reporting

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An airplane takes off from New York’s Laguardia Airport after the FAA ordered flight cuts at 40 major airports amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown in the Queens borough of New York City, U.S., November 7, 2025.

Ryan Murphy | Reuters

Air traffic controllers and technicians with perfect attendance during the government shutdown will receive $10,000 bonuses, the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration said this week.

The bonuses will go to 776 controllers and technicians, who will receive notification next week with payments going out by Dec. 9, the FAA and DOT said. There are about 11,000 fully certified air traffic controllers in the U.S., according to their union.

“These patriotic men and women never missed a beat and kept the flying public safe throughout the shutdown,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a release late Thursday.

The DOT and FAA didn’t immediately say whether preplanned vacation time or fatigue calls would disqualify controllers and technicians from the bonus.

An increase in absences of air traffic controllers, who were required to work without their regular paychecks during the more than 40-day shutdown, the longest ever, forced airlines to slow or cancel flights. The shutdown ended Nov. 12 with a bill to fund the government through January.

The shutdown’s disruptions and additional strain on air traffic controllers, many of whom are already required to work six-day weeks, sparked an outcry from the aviation industry, which urged lawmakers to ensure critical workers aren’t left without pay if there’s another shutdown.

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The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents the country’s air traffic controllers, said it was informed of the decision on cash bonuses hours before the announcement. It said that 311 employees represented by NATCA qualify for the payments.

“We look forward to working with the Administration to provide the appropriate recognition to those not covered by the Secretary’s announcement,” the union said in a statement.

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the union that represents 11,000 FAA and Defense Department workers including technicians, said it is “reviewing the information that has been provided by the FAA and is evaluating how best to ensure that all employees who worked during the shutdown are recognized.”

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Transportation Security Administration officers who screen passengers at airports would also receive $10,000 bonuses for perfect attendance.

“Despite tremendous personal, operational, and financial challenges, these dedicated officers showed up to work every day for more than a month, without pay, ensuring the American people could travel safely,” DHS said in a press release.

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Planes line up on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on November 10, 2025 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.S. has been scrambling to hire more air traffic controllers for years. The longest-ever federal government shutdown might have made that even harder.

“We need more of them to come into the profession, and this shutdown is going to make that more difficult for us to accomplish that goal,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday, a day before Congress signed a bill to fund the federal government through January, ending the shutdown.

Air traffic controllers were required to work without receiving regular paychecks during the shutdown. They were paid in part on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, but during the shutdown some had taken second jobs to make ends meet, while the lack of regular pay added to their stress, union and government officials and lawmakers have said.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported low-staffing thresholds were hit that that slowed aircraft around the country during the final days of the shutdown. President Donald Trump earlier this week threatened to dock air traffic controllers’ pay if they didn’t go to work. On Friday, staffing levels were relatively strong around the U.S. and disruptions eased.

“It can’t make it look like this is a great job because you’re going to have to deal with this all the time,” said Tim Kiefer, who teaches air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

Kiefer was an air traffic controller for more than two decades before he retired. He said shutdowns or the threat of them were common during his career. “You may see people decide to do other things and say, ‘They didn’t get paid; they were stuck in the middle of a partisan dispute,'” he said.

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5 million passengers

The shortage of air traffic controllers delayed or canceled thousands flights during the shutdown, affecting the travel plans of more than 5 million people, according to Airlines for America, an industry group that includes American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and others.

But even with partial pay hitting bank accounts, the staffing crisis that regularly upends travel is set to continue.

A government tally last year showed the U.S. was short 3,903 fully certified air traffic controllers of a goal of 14,633. Shortages have been particularly severe at busy facilities like those where controllers guide planes in and out of airports in the congested New York area, adding to flight disruptions and frustrating airline executives and customers.

Meanwhile, retirements picked up in the shutdown, with 15 to 20 people retiring per day, down from a usual rate of four a day, Duffy said Tuesday. Controllers are required to retire at age 56 but can do so earlier with benefits depending on years on the job.

Staffing was already thin before the shutdown began on Oct. 1, and many controllers were working six-day workweeks. By mid-November, as air traffic controllers missed two full paychecks and the shutdown passed the one-month mark, it approached crisis levels.

More than 10% of U.S. departures were canceled last Sunday as bad weather combined with air traffic controller shortfalls at facilities across the country. That was the highest rate since January, according to aviation-data firm Cirium.

Hours after those cancellations spiked on Sunday, the Senate advanced a preliminary deal that led to the vote ending the shutdown this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration in early November ordered airlines to cut 4% of flights from their domestic schedules at 40 major airports, blaming safety risks they found because of an increased strain on air traffic controllers. Cuts were set to ramp up to 10% on Friday, if the shutdown didn’t end. Cancellations, however, improved dramatically during the week and on Friday morning, just 2% of U.S. departures were canceled, according to Cirium.

The FAA brought its mandated cuts down from 6% to 3% starting on Saturday, saying it will monitor system performance throughout the weekend.

The disruptions were similar to those on days with severe storms, but were more widespread across the U.S.

Millions in lost revenue

The last-minute cuts were a headache for the industry, where airlines from top-moneymaker Delta to struggling carrier Spirt had already lowered their outlooks for the year after an oversupply of flights and weaker-than-expected demand earlier this year. Airlines haven’t yet quantified the damage from the shutdown, but Bank of America estimated a $150 million to $200 million operating income hit for big network airlines and less than $100 million for other carriers.

Travelers walk through the terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, more than a month into the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., Nov. 11, 2025.

Annabelle Gordon | Reuters

Airline executives, exasperated by the recent disruptions, are now pushing Congress to make sure controllers are paid in the next shutdown.

“In the past week, we saw a crescendo effect as air traffic control staffing shortages led to massive and unpredictable amounts of delays and cancellations across the industry — and that was on top of a series of FAA-mandated schedule reductions,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and the carrier’s chief operating officer, David Seymour, said in a note to employees on Thursday, a day after the House approved a short-term funding bill. “While we both have been in this industry for a long time, only a few other events come to mind when we think about this level of disruption.”

It could have been worse. This part of the fall travel demand is relatively light, but Thanksgiving was fast approaching when Congress ended the shutdown, concerning airline executives.

“This shutdown put tremendous strain on our aviation system and caused severe inconvenience for the millions of Americans who depend on it,” United said in a statement. “It should be obvious to everyone that policy debates, however urgent, should never put air travel at risk, and we urge Congress to ensure that the FAA and [Transportation Security Administration’s] funding is protected in the event of any future lapse in federal appropriations.”

‘Political football’

It wasn’t the first time a government closure has put the aviation industry under strain. The 2018-2019 shutdown, then the longest in U.S. history, ended just hours after controller shortages snarled travel in the New York City area.

Some airline executives told CNBC that they were frustrated by this most recent shutdown and last-minute schedule changes, which ended up being greater than anticipated. One, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press, said “we were the pawns” in the shutdown.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Wednesday that “the thing we don’t like is being a political football” and said it was unacceptable that air traffic controllers and TSA officers were forced to work without regular paychecks.

The best way to prevent such disruptions is “to ensure those workers, the next time this happens because it will happen, get paid,” Bastian said. “Who could disagree with that?”

The airline industry is urging Congress for legislation that could make use of funds generated by airplane ticket taxes to ensure air traffic controllers and other essential industry workers like airport screeners and Customs agents are paid.

“You don’t hold the American public hostage over a political fight like that,” Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire, said in a virtual press conference Wednesday, shortly before the House passed the funding bill.

Travelers check their flight status at Dulles International airport as the nation’s air travel system begins to return to normal, as the U.S. government opens back up following the longest shutdown in U.S. history, in Dulles, Virginia, U.S. Nov. 13, 2025.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Next Wednesday, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who chairs the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation, will hold a hearing on the shutdown’s impact on aviation. Moran this year pushed for legislation that would let the FAA use the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which is funded by taxes on airplane tickets and fuel, to cover expenses if the government shuts down.

“The government shutdown has severely impacted our already fragile aviation industry, and recovering from its effects will take time,” he said in a release this week. “It’s critical that we address the damage done and look at the long-term effects of the shutdown.”

Lawmakers earlier this year approved $12.5 billion to improve air traffic control, though the industry said it needs billions more to modernize the system in the U.S.

The fatal collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., in January also made hiring controllers more urgent, especially at congested facilities.

About a month after the crash, Duffy announced the country’s air traffic controller academy would raise pay for students, and he authorized more universities to teach a similar curriculum to help ease the shortage. The academy in Oklahoma City also stayed open, a different tactic than in the 2018-2019 shutdown.

But those aren’t immediate fixes. It takes years for controllers to be fully trained to work at some of the more complex facilities, and applicants to the academy can be no older than 30.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated a comparison to this month’s flight cancellations.

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Flight timings and cancellations are displayed on the departures board, a month into the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., November 9, 2025.

Annabelle Gordon | Reuters

Flight cancellations were again piling up on Monday as air traffic controller shortages, worsened by the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown, snarled air travel coast to coast and President Donald Trump threatened to dock air traffic controllers’ pay if they didn’t show up to work.

On Monday, 1,432 of the 25,733 scheduled flights across the country were canceled, around 5.5% “and growing,” according to aviation-data firm Cirium.

Last week, the Trump administration ordered airlines to cut flights at 40 major U.S. airports starting with 4% reductions last Friday and ramping up to 10% by this coming Friday, Nov. 14.

“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that he would recommend $10,000 bonuses for any air traffic controllers who didn’t take any time off during the shutdown. He said those who don’t immediately return to work would be “docked.”

Disruptions over the weekend totaled 18,576 flights delayed and 4,519 canceled, according to FlightAware. Cancellations spilled over from regional, short-haul jets — which the largest U.S. airlines rely on for around half of domestic flights — to mainline flying.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines were each offering flight attendants extra pay to pick up flights, according to company messages seen by CNBC. Such extra pay is common during storms or other disruptions. The airlines didn’t immediately comment.

A sign of how severe air travel disruptions have become during the government shutdown: Sunday’s 2,631 U.S. flight cancellations, 10% of the day’s schedule, marked the 4th worst day since January 2024, Cirium said.

In comparison, on Friday morning, as Trump administration-mandated flight cuts took effect, cancellations ranked 72nd since the start of last year.

The disruptions that upended the travel plans for hundreds of thousands of travelers forced them to look for alternative transportation. Car rental company Hertz last week reported an increase in one-way rental demand. There’s also been increased demand for private jet flights in recent days, according to the CEO of charter and fractional ownership company Flexjet.

Though the Trump administration order didn’t initially require private aviation to cut in the same way as commercial airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday began limiting those flights at a dozen U.S. airports. However, many private jet operators don’t use the busiest commercial airports, said the National Business Aviation Association.

Increased strain

Air traffic controllers missed their second paycheck of the shutdown on Monday, though they are still required to work. Some of them have taken second jobs to make ends meet, government and union officials have said.

“Now, they must focus on child care instead of traffic flows. Food for their families instead of runway separation,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said at a press conference on Monday. “The added stress leads to fatigue, the fatigue has led to the erosion of safety and the increased risk every day that this shutdown drags on.”

The Senate made progress overnight on a deal that could end the shutdown, but it has not yet approved a funding bill.

Daniels said that it isn’t yet clear how long it would take for controllers to receive backpay for their work. In the shutdown that ended in 2019, it took about two and a half months before the workers were made whole, he said.

This is breaking news. Check back for updates.

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