Airports prepare for holiday travel as Government Shutdown continues
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) Airports have a lot on the tarmac with the holidays ahead and the uncertainty surrounding the length of the latest government shutdown.
Santa Barbara Airport Marketing Supervisor Lauren Gonzales said larger airports are more likely to feel the shutdown impacts.
Los Angeles International Airport known as LAX had some flights from Oakland to LA temporarily grounded on Sunday due to a staffing shortage.
That has not happened in Santa Barbara.
“We really haven’t seen much impact on operations at SBA luckily but we are keeping in close contact with our Federal partners to be in touch on any changes that they see on their end,” said Gonzales.
But a government workers flying out, who chose not to give her name or job title, said she was delayed by issues at other airports on her way out of town.
And women flying in from Arizona said their pilot had to circle to land.
Other travelers including Warren Houston and Emily Johnson had no problem flying into Santa Barbara.
“I flew from Newark to Phoenix and then Phoenix to here, and everything was on time I didn’t notice anything different,” said Houston.
Johnson flew home Monday and said she is expecting her daughter to fly in for Thanksgiving and she hopes the shutdown will be over by then.
“I hope it’s not an issue I mean and I do plan to have her traveling right to our local airport just because it’s the odds are much better than going somewhere like LA, it’s just that can be troublesome,” said Johnson.
Travelers will also have more outgoing flights to choose from next year.
‘We do have some exciting news coming out of Santa Barbara Airport, last week we announced 2 new routes coming back in 2026. We have Alaska Airlines that will be offering non service to San Diego and United will be offering nonstop service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, both starting in April of 2026. These 2 routes have been previously highly requested by our community, so we are really excited that they will be offered once again,” said Gonzales.
Travel experts suggest signing up for alerts and checking your airline, airport and the National Airspace System Status websites.
For more information visit, https://nasstatus.faa.gov and https://flysba.santabarbara.ca.gov
Your News Channel will have more on travel coming up tonight on the news.