United alliance of American giants against the blockade of US air transport

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom, Airlines for America President and CEO Chris Sununu, and other officials participated in a roundtable discussion at the White House last Thursday with Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to discuss the impact of the government shutdown—which began on October 1—on the nation’s transportation system.

Many in this sector, including air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, are considered essential workers and are required to continue working during the shutdown, even though they received only partial pay at the beginning of October and have yet to receive their first full paycheck since last Tuesday.

The American Tourism Association also displays a « live counter » on its website, showing that since October 1st, the country has lost nearly $4.3 billion in tourism spending.

ATC and TSA still haven’t been paid.

« While I haven’t taken a position on which political camp to favor or how to address the health issue, it’s still been 30 days, » Kirby said at a press conference following the meeting.

“I also think it’s time to pass an interim funding resolution without amendment.

Let’s take this opportunity to meet behind closed doors and negotiate firmly on the real issues that Americans expect from their elected officials, from all political stripes.”

Kirby also thanked air traffic controllers and employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who, he said, “work tirelessly to ensure air safety.”

“They minimized the delays.” Less than 2% of flights have been delayed so far due to a lack of air traffic control staff… But this is causing stress… and weighing on the economy…

The airline industry is a fairly reliable indicator of the state of the economy in real time, and we are beginning to see – admittedly still modest – but a significant impact on bookings. The entire economy is at risk.