Jetsetting is already pretty good — and that’s not expected to change even if President Donald Trump restores pay for Transportation Security Administration workers.
Trump on Friday ordered Homeland Security to begin paying TSA workers after Congress failed to agree on a way to partially end the government shutdown and fund the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS said its employees could start seeing payments again as soon as Monday, but if you think that will mean shorter lines at airport security, you might want to pack a snack.
The airline industry is facing many challenges – war, rising costs, labor shortages, to name a few – that make flying expensive and stressful.
Labor Shortage
The shortage forced TSA officers, who make a starting salary of about $40,000 and are often paid a living wage, to go without pay for weeks. Hundreds of them stopped.
Even with the promise of full salaries coming soon, TSA will need to address this staffing shortage.
Nguyen McNeill, the agency’s deputy director, said about 500 officers have left since the partial closure began in mid-February. More than 1,000 TSA agents 43 also walked off the job during the 43-day government shutdown last year.
The TSA employs about 50,000 officers, but it takes 4 to 6 months to complete training. That means long lines can take a long time. Those open positions may not be filled in time for the FIFA World Cup in June.
“This is a sad situation,” McNeill told lawmakers Wednesday. “We are facing a severe storm of severe staff shortages and overcrowding of millions of passengers at our airports.”
Adam Stahl, the TSA’s chief of staff, also spoke about the staffing cuts on Wednesday. He said the situation will “get worse before it gets better” despite Trump’s executive order.
“There are negative behavioral consequences when the shutdown ends,” Stahl told “The Hill,” a TV news program on NewsNation.
He added that the recruiting pipeline is a “challenge.”
“People who would or are thinking about going and joining the workforce will be turned away because of the lack of job security,” Stahl said.
Flying just keeps getting better
Jet fuel costs are rising because of the US-Israel war against Iran, which is expected to increase the already high cost of flying.
Prices have risen to around $200 a barrel since February, above the earlier average of $100.
As a result, some airlines rely on customers to pay for additional costs. Qantas Airways, Air India, Thai Air, and other airlines have already warned airlines that they are raising ticket prices.
The ongoing military conflict has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway off the coast of Iran through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies pass. Other major oil facilities, including a key port in the United Arab Emirates, have been damaged.
The war has also forced other countries to close their airspace, forcing airlines to turn back flights and find alternative routes.
A growing concern
None of this is good for the airline industry. Some Americans worry too much about air travel, which can make them think twice about buying expensive tickets.
In an Ipsos survey conducted in February, nearly half of respondents said they were “losing confidence in the safety of air travel.” Respondents with household incomes over $125,000 were even less optimistic.
“This may be a worrying trend for the travel industry as the top earners are frequent flyers,” the global market research firm wrote in its report.
Less than 30% of respondents said they felt “confident about the safety of air travel.”
The study does not clarify the reason. However, there could be a number of reasons, including the impact of war on international travel, rising ticket prices during an economic crisis, falling due to labor shortages, or a series of recent emergencies.
In January, a passenger jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington. Sixty-seven people died. And this week, an Air Canada passenger jet crashed into a fire truck, killing two pilots.