Written by Miami Today on October 22, 2025
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Fifteen days after the federal government shutdown began, Miami International Airport had so far escaped any impact, Aviation Director Ralph Cutié said last week while warning that during a longer shutdown impacts would surely come.
“The good news I have is that as of this morning, no, we are not feeling any impacts from this government shutdown,” Mr. Cutié told the county’s Airport Committee in response to a question from Chairwoman Danielle Cohen Higgins. Flights weren’t delayed, he said, and crucial federal employees were showing up to work.
“As far as air traffic controllers and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) tower, they’re staffed, they are showing up to work – they are fully staffed,” he said. “As far as our TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and our CBP (Customs and Border Protection) staff, their attendance is actually higher than pre-shutdown.”
That’s not the case across the nation, where flight delays have spread and the FAA has noted controller shortages in many cities, the Associated Press reported. In the 35-day federal shutdown in 2019 the aviation system buckled, the AP wrote, and one terminal at Miami International Airport was forced to close as security screeners called in sick in large numbers.
The pay shortage for TSA and CBP hadn’t grown serious as Mr. Cutié spoke.
“The federal government pays them in arrears, so they just got a partial paycheck this week,” he said. “In the next few weeks, I can’t guarantee [attendance] because at that point they will no longer be paid.”
As for flight delays, he warned, “the aviation industry is an ecosystem, so if there are sickouts at JFK or [Dallas Fort Worth] or any other airport, they could potentially affect delays coming out because if we have flights that reach final destinations at those airports, then we have could have potential delays as a result of the impacts of other airports.”
“We’re grateful to our TSA workers and all of our federal employees that show up” during the shutdown, said Ms. Cohen Higgins.
“We are closely monitoring the situation,” said Mr. Cutié, as airport staff is in constant contact with the federal agencies involved. “We are monitoring it multiple times a day just to be sure.”
Asked by Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez if he knows whether TSA plans to do anything soon “to prevent any slowing down, a hiccup,” the airport director said “as of right now, the plan would be they’d have to repurpose people.”
But the airport isn’t going to make the federal teams go it alone.
“We’re going to try to help them out with private security on our end if we can, helping them man the exit lanes potentially,” Mr. Cutié disclosed.
Said Mr. Gonzalez, “I appreciate you for being proactive about it.”