The federal government has once again ground to a halt, but air travelers in the Triad can rest easy at least for now: Piedmont Triad International Airport will remain open, the planes will keep flying – and passengers shouldn’t expect to see their vacation flights or business trips canceled because Congress can’t get its act together.

PTI officials announced on Wednesday, Oct. 1 that the shutdown won’t bring immediate operational changes. Unlike some federal agencies, PTI itself isn’t funded through the annual appropriations process that Congress failed to renew. Airlines keep their schedules, the runways remain open, and the ticket counters will look the same on Monday as they did on Friday.

However, “no change” doesn’t mean “no impact.”

The key players at airports like PTI are the federal employees who work there. Transportation Security Administration officers and Customs and Border Protection staff are designated as “essential,” which means they’ll still report for duty even if Washington stops cutting checks.

The same, fortunately, goes for Federal Aviation Administration  air traffic controllers who work to keep planes safely separated over the Triad and across the country.

In the short term, this is all good news for passengers – flights continue, security screening takes place, and customs lines still move.

In the longer term, however, government shutdowns can create real problems at airports. During the last prolonged shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, TSA workers around the country began calling in sick when paychecks were delayed. That led to longer security lines at major airports and it increased stress on already thinly stretched staff.

Air traffic controllers also worked without pay for weeks. That sparked warnings from industry groups about flight safety.

PTI hasn’t faced those kinds of shutdown-related slowdowns yet, but the risk is always there if Congress remains as dysfunctional as it is right now.

Another area of concern is for long-term projects, of which there are a whole lot going on at PTI: Airports often rely on federal aviation grants for improvements ranging from runway work to terminal expansions. And there are all kinds of renovation projects going on and being planned at PTI right now.

Those funds don’t vanish during a shutdown, but the paperwork and reimbursement process can grind to a halt. That means construction schedules can be pushed back and planning can be delayed.

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