U.S. Government Shutdown May Force Smaller Airports to Close, Official Warns

A senior official from the Trump administration indicated on Tuesday that if the government funding shortfall persists, some smaller airports might be forced to close in the coming weeks due to a shortage of security personnel. According to Jin10, the partial government shutdown has already resulted in 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security staff working without pay over the past month, with 10% of them absent from work on Sunday. "As time goes on, if this situation continues, we indeed have to consider very serious measures, such as potentially closing airports entirely—especially smaller ones," said Adam Stahl, Acting Deputy Administrator of the TSA, in an interview with Fox News.