The agreement also immediately reinstates the activity of 670,000 federal employees who had been unable to work or receive pay during this period, while ensuring that the approximately 730,000 civil servants who remained in their posts—because they were deemed essential—will receive the back pay owed to them. Until now, some had received only partial payments for the days worked during the late-September period.
Beyond its domestic impact, this crisis has had a direct effect on the air transport sector. The shortage of air traffic controllers and the accumulated effects of the shutdown meant that, in the 40 busiest airports in the country, the volume of flights gradually fell to almost 10% of normal levels. These cutbacks triggered thousands of cancellations and delays from November 7 onward, affecting countless travelers and adding extra strain to the US commercial aviation system.
With the end of the shutdown, authorities hope this situation will start to reverse as quickly as possible. The return to normal operations in federal agencies will mean controllers resuming their duties in full, easing a substantial part of the chaos that had taken hold in airports. Even so, the backlog of cancellations and the mistrust generated among airlines, passengers and airport operators will require a major effort to restore normality and recover the system’s lost fluidity.
The political context behind this paralysis also deserves attention. The prolonged shutdown of the government was triggered by the refusal of a sector of the Democrats to approve continued budget funding unless Republicans agreed to expand subsidies for the health insurance program known as Obamacare, while conservatives insisted on reopening the government first and negotiating aid measures afterward.
During the signing of the provisional budget in the Oval Office, the president thanked the Democratic senators who broke party discipline and joined the majority vote in favor. He also stressed that he would not allow a similar “blackmail” situation to arise again in budget negotiations and underlined that, with a Republican majority in Congress, such processes should not be so complex.
In short, this provisional resolution allows the US federal government to return to full operation and brings relief both at the institutional level and in the air transport sector, which had been severely affected by the shutdown. However, the real challenge begins now: restoring confidence in the system, clearing the backlog of delayed and cancelled flights, and ensuring that negotiations for a full-year budget—not just a stopgap measure—progress without new deadlocks up to January 30 and beyond. Only then will it be possible to overcome the domino effect of this institutional crisis that brought one of the world’s busiest air transport systems to the brink.
