A series of US airports may close due to lack of screening staff

More than 30% of US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, the force responsible for screening and aviation security checks, were absent from several airports across the country last week. This situation occurred when they had to work without pay for the past month, in the context that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not receive congressional approval for its operating budget.

“We may be forced to close some airports, especially small airports, if the absence rate of security personnel continues to increase,” Adam Stahl, acting deputy director of the TSA, said in an interview on March 17.

The situation of screening staff at airports quitting work and calling in sick is becoming increasingly serious. DHS has been partially shut down due to lack of congressional budget approval since last month, leaving 50,000 TSA employees, who are classified as “essential workers,” to work without pay.

After Mr. Stahl’s statement, TSA spokesman Nick Dyer explained that airports only have to close if the number of TSA officers coming to work is “so low that it is not possible to arrange enough people to fully operate a security checkpoint.”

Mr Dyer did not specify which airports might be affected, saying any decisions would be made “on a case-by-case basis”.

The shortage of screening staff from TSA causes waiting times for security checks to last for many hours at a series of large and small US airports.

More than 37% of TSA employees at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, did not come to work on March 16. The no-show rate at Kennedy Airport in New York on the same day exceeded 30%, while at LaGuardia Airport it was more than 20%.

The highest single-day absence was recorded on March 14 at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, when 55% of TSA employees missed work.

Mr. Stahl warned that the coming time will be “extremely difficult”, predicting that passengers may continue to have to wait for hours. “The situation will get worse before it gets better.”