The Fallout of the US Government Shutdown: Jobs, Travel, and National Parks at Risk

Fri Oct 10 2025 19:32:12 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

The recent US federal government shutdown could lead to significant disruptions affecting air travel, federal jobs, and national parks. What does this mean for American citizens?

With the US government now in a state of shutdown due to unresolved budget negotiations between lawmakers, nearly 750,000 federal workers face unpaid leave, while air travelers and park visitors brace for potential service disruptions. The impact extends from air traffic management to national park operations, raising critical questions about the functioning of essential services.

The US federal government has shut down after Republican and Democratic lawmakers failed to resolve a budget stand-off.

The impasse affects the funding of government operations throughout October and beyond, and is poised to cause widespread disruption for Americans in areas ranging from air travel to zoo visits.

The political gridlock is also expected to put 40% of the federal workforce – about 750,000 people – on unpaid leave.

This is how its impact could be felt across the US.

Your next flight

A federal shutdown could hit flyers in a variety of ways, potentially leading to long security queues and delays caused by unpaid air traffic controllers choosing to stay home rather than work for free. Air traffic control and Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers are considered essential, so they will continue to go to work.

But they will not be paid until the shutdown ends. When this last happened in 2018-2019, these workers increasingly began to call in sick, leading to delays that had a ripple effect across the country.

No work - or pay - for federal workers

Federal employees are expected to be hardest hit, as they will not receive any pay cheques while the shutdown continues. Law enforcement officers will continue to work through the government shutdown - though more than 200,000 of them will do so unpaid.

National Parks with no staff

Federal lands, including National Parks and National Forests, have been closed off to visitors during past shutdowns, since the rangers and other employees were asked to stay at home. During the last shutdown, the Trump administration made the decision to leave parks open, with few to no federal workers there to staff them.