San Jose airport operating as normal despite government shutdown

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Airports across the Bay Area may soon feel the effects of the ongoing government shutdown, as essential workers like TSA agents and air traffic controllers are required to work without pay.

Despite the shutdown, operations at San Jose Mineta International Airport remain smooth for now, with travelers expressing concern for the unpaid workers who ensure their flights are safe and on time.

“If they’re not being paid, they shouldn’t have to come here,” said Brooke Walton, a traveler heading to Disneyland. “They work so hard they deserve to be paid.”

During the 2019 government shutdown, which lasted nearly 40 days, some airport workers began calling in sick, leading to temporary terminal closures in places like Miami.

Eileen Abu-Rumman, a retired government worker from the Department of Agriculture, expressed concern about the possibility of not receiving backpay after the shutdown ends. “I would be concerned this group is not going to try paying them,” she said. “They want to get rid of any regulation, anything that makes them accountable.”

Both San Jose Mineta International Airport and Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport have stated they do not anticipate any immediate impacts from the shutdown, suggesting that travel in the short term should remain unaffected.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.