Airline union official: Pilots believe shutdown delays are ‘going to get worse’

Published October 10, 2025 6:00am ET



Airline pilots are very concerned by United States flight delays and cancellations amid the government shutdown and believe the effect on the industry is “only going to get worse” in the coming days, according to an airline union official.

Capt. Dennis Tajer, spokesman for American Airlines’ Allied Pilots Association, told the Washington Examiner that the thousands of pilots who lived through the 2019 government shutdown are living through “PTSD” right now, knowing full well that things will get worse in air travel before they get better, unless the Senate passes funding.

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