The Government Shutdown Is Ending. For Airports, It’s Just In Time

On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump announced he would agree to end the partial government shutdown by signing a bill to fund the government for three weeks. During that time, he says he’ll continue negotiations with Congress over a deal for a border wall. Trump’s capitulation came after a morning of delays reported in airports across the country, including New York’s LaGuardia and Newark airports, as well as Philadelphia International. Citing a shortage of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration had to temporarily ground some planes in a few airports.

Airports were hardly the only pressure point on Trump, but throughout January, they played an outsize role in focusing the public’s attention on the effects of a prolonged shutdown. For that reason, legislators and analysts predicted that it would be the stress on airports that would eventually force an end to the impasse.