U.S. Airlines Provide Complimentary Meals to Controllers Amid Shutdown
(MENAFN) Several major U.S. airlines have stepped in to provide free meals to federal employees, including air traffic controllers, who have gone without pay due to the ongoing government shutdown.
United Airlines announced Tuesday that it will distribute complimentary meals at key hubs, including Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles airports.
In a statement to media, the airline said: “We appreciate the hardworking federal employees who are keeping the air travel system running.”
Delta Air Lines and JetBlue have also confirmed the launch of similar programs at their airport locations.
The initiative comes as thousands of air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks since the shutdown began.
At a press briefing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Nick Daniels spoke about the mounting financial pressures facing controllers.
“This is day one, and day two gets harder, [and] day three is harder after that, as expenses continue to roll [in],” Duffy said, highlighting that many new controllers in training are struggling to cover basic costs.
Daniels added that numerous controllers have been forced to take side jobs to make ends meet, cautioning that this could have negative implications for the safety of the air traffic system.
The shutdown, now the second-longest in U.S. history, began on Oct. 1 following a breakdown in federal spending negotiations. Since then, thousands of federal workers have been furloughed, and numerous government services have been curtailed or suspended.
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