The longest government shutdown in United States history took an especially heavy toll on the airline industry. Delta Air Lines recently announced that it expects to take a $200 million pre-tax loss as a result of the 43 days that the federal government was closed over political disputes in Congress, according to The Financial Times.
The shortage of air traffic controllers across the nation due to withheld pay forced a reduction in service capacity, especially at major hubs. Although the network returned to near normal capacity before the Thanksgiving holiday travel rush, the impact is still significant for an industry extremely sensitive to economic downturns given airlines’ razor-thin margins.
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