More Airports Close Security Checkpoints Because of TSA Staff Shortages
by Daniel McCarthy /
The ongoing partial government shutdown, now in its fourth week, is starting to make more of an impact on air travel across the country. Over the weekend, security checkpoints at major U.S. airports were closed because of staff shortages and another joined them on Monday.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport closed the TSA security checkpoint at its Terminal B on Sunday, rerouting passengers to either Terminal C or Terminal E because of the shortages. This did not cause any major delays but the airport, along with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, was urging passengers to get to the airport early because of the situation.
Miami International Airport also closed its Concourse G for parts of Saturday and Sunday because it did not have enough TSA officers on hand to staff it. Miami is reopening the terminal on Monday, explaining that the change was a precautionary measure to “better utilize the decreased staffing.”
Dulles International Airport is also suffering from shortages due to the shutdown and, when combined with the snowstorm hitting the Washington, D.C., area, it is being forced to make adjustments. Dulles’ employee and West Mezzanine checkpoints will close on Monday — and all of those impacted will have to clear security at the airport’s East Mezzanine, according to TSA Assistant Administrator Michael Bilello.
More than 400,000 federal workers, which include TSA officers, Custom and Border Protection agents, and air traffic controllers, have been working without pay since the government shutdown started more than three weeks ago.
The TSA has maintained that security standards have not been compromised, and that it would consolidate officers and operations around the country where it is feasible to deal with the staffing issues, which have been exasperated by officers calling out sick (according to Bilello, on Monday, of the 51,000 TSA employees on the job, 7.6 percent have called out compared to 3.2 percent one year ago).
Despite the shutdown news, staff shortages have not yet impacted wait times — 99.9 percent of the almost 2 million passengers screened across the country waited less than 30 minutes at their checkpoint last Thursday.