Government shutdown costs Delta $25mn

Delta Air Lines has lost an estimated $25mn on lower government travel and other costs associated with an ongoing US government shutdown, the airline said today.

The ongoing outage, which has left air traffic controllers and airport security working without pay and halted Federal Aviation Authority inspectors, could also delay the integration of seven new aircraft into service.

Costs associated with the shutdown would rise by "an order of magnitude" if it continued into another month, the company said. But the airline continued to operate, had not seen major delays or cancellations and was working to take as many non-essential tasks associated with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to limit the length of lines that customers would find at US airports.

"We strongly encourage our elected officials to do their best to resolve their differences and get our government fully opened as quickly as possible," chief executive Ed Bastian said during a quarterly earnings call.

Federal agencies began a partial shutdown on 22 December following an impasse between Congress and President Donald Trump over funding for a wall on the southern US border. That left the Federal Aviation Administration without funding. Delta expected delays to new aircraft certification would push its introduction of new planes to its fleet later in the year, but did not anticipate substantially higher repair or maintenance costs associated continued use of aircraft scheduled for retirement.

TSA agents and air traffic controllers have worked without pay during the longest such shutdown in US history. Certain airports have reported longer wait times or fewer security checkpoints as agents call in sick.

Wait times at Delta's Atlanta, Georgia, hub stretched to 90 minutes yesterday, and checkpoints in Houston, Texas, and Miami, Florida, shut for lack of agents. But there has been no system-wide interruption, and no indication from corporate travel planners of plans to reduce travel to avoid airports, Bastian said.

"We are not seeing a meaningful impact," he said. "In isolated airports we are having some longer lines but it is not a system-wide impact at all."