Impact of the 2018-2019 Partial Government Shutdown on Aviation Businesses Continued from page 73 we had so many organizations willing to sign on so quickly,” said John McGraw, NATA’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. “It’s such a critical need to reduce the impact on avia- tion whenever you have a government shutdown like this.” McGraw says NATA and other aviation industry groups have learned important lessons from previous government shutdowns. “The Anti-Deficiency Act is the main roadblock that comes up during a government shutdown, because the law says you can’t allocate government funds that Congress hasn’t approved, or do anything obligating funds that haven’t been allocated,” McGraw said. “It means the FAA and other government organizations not exempted during a shutdown really have their hands tied.” McGraw said the 2018-2019 shutdown hit the industry even harder than usual, both because of its record length and because of the implication that politicians on both sides might have been willing to let it go much longer. While the plight of Jet Logistics and Indiana Donor Network was one extreme example of how a shutdown can impact aviation, McGraw heard from dozens of other NATA members who were directly affected, asserting that civil aviation supports more than seven percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, $1.5 trillion of economic impact annually, and over 11.5 million jobs. The shutdown created hardships for the FAA, TSA, and Customs & Border Protection personnel, and halted training for prospec- tive pilots at NATA members like FlightSafety International, in the midst of an industry-wide pilot shortage. “In this kind of political football, the people wielding the government shutdown want some visible impact associated with it—that’s the point of it, strategically, politically—and we definitely felt it in our industry this time around,” McGraw said. “The aviation system isn’t as resilient as people think. Had the shutdown continued much longer, there’s no doubt more flights would have been canceled, and there would have been problems with Air Traffic Control. Eventually, you start having breakdowns in the system: and that’s when serious safety concerns arise and, heaven forbid, major accidents. One significant concern we had was that if the ATC and TSA workforces are wondering whether or not they’re going to be able to pay rent for the month because their paychecks aren’t coming on time, then how focused are they on aviation safety and security? These are hardworking people who missed two paychecks in the midst of all this. In any evaluation of the safety system, that’s an unacceptable risk. And that’s just the 74 start of it. We were also concerned about the long-term work- force and safety impacts. A shutdown creates a backlog that remains even after the government is reopened.” Ultimately, air traffic staffing shortages caused lengthy air traffic delays, which helped bring about the end of the shutdown—a reminder of the critical role air travel and safety play in the United States. McGraw hopes there are larger takeaways from the shutdown, and that lawmakers will commit to protecting the FAA and other agencies in future shutdowns to better protect U.S. aviation. In February, after the shutdown, and with another shut- down potentially looming, the Aviation Funding Stability Act (H.R. 1108) was introduced in Congress, aiming to shield FAA programs and staffers from future shutdowns. A week later, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee scheduled a hearing to examine how the shutdown harmed both FAA functions and the larger aviation industry. “We were providing the interface for our members and the FAA because there was a lot of discussion and debate about what could and could not be done during the shutdown,” McGraw said. “We were also staying in constant contact with the Hill, reaching out to Members of Congress to make sure they understood what the end results would be if it continued and continuing to provide information about the potential impact so they could put pressure on to find a deal.” In retrospect, McGraw wishes NATA and the rest of the aviation industry had mobilized sooner, and hopes they will handle some things differently in advance of and during future shutdowns. “Nobody ever expected it to last that long, because no shutdown has ever lasted that long before,” McGraw explained. “Had we known it was going to last that long, we might have started getting active earlier, pushing for letters of authorization for the training centers and advocating for parts of the registry to remain open—the easy policy calls that could be made. Still, I think our conversations between the members, the FAA, and the Hill during this trying time were very effective. And, I think it’s important to note that concerns about the impact on aviation played a big role in ending the shutdown and the standoff. We’re going to continue to have discussions with the FAA and on the Hill to try to resolve some more of these issues before any future shutdowns.” Aviation Business Journal | Spring 2019
