Philly airport to reopen two TSA checkpoints closed during government shutdown
PHL’s Terminal A-West and Terminal F security checkpoints are slated to reopen Thursday.
Philadelphia International Airport will reopen two U.S. Transportation Security Administration-run security checkpoints that were closed two weeks ago amid the government shutdown.
PHL’s Terminal A-West and Terminal F security checkpoints are slated to reopen Thursday, the airport announced via social media. Once opened, the checkpoints will operate on their regular schedules, with Terminal A-West running from 5 a.m. to 10:15 p.m., and Terminal F running from 4:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
“We appreciate your patience as we collaborated with the TSA to maintain efficient security operations,” the airport said. “And thank you to our staff for supporting travelers throughout the closure.”
The airport closed those terminals on Nov. 5 at the request of the TSA, which was affected by the then-ongoing shutdown of the federal government. Amid the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, roughly 800 TSA officers continued screening luggage and staffing airport checkpoints without pay, and employees with the agency missed their first full paychecks on Oct. 24, The Inquirer reported.
The checkpoints’ closures, airport officials said, were temporary, though no date for their return was provided at the time they were shuttered. Checkpoints at Terminals A-East, B, C, and D/E remained operational.
The shutdown also brought a flight-reduction order from the Federal Aviation Administration, which required airlines to, in phases, eliminate 10% of their scheduled trips at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports — PHL included. Designed to ease pressure on air traffic controllers, who were experiencing staffing shortages, that order caused a number of flight delays and cancellations at PHL and other airports around the country.
The flight-reduction order was lifted Sunday, when the FAA retracted its mandate following the end of the shutdown last week. Federal legislators on Nov. 12 reached a deal to fund the government through at least Jan. 30, stopping the shutdown after 43 days — the longest stoppage in history.
Flight schedules at PHL were expected to return to normal quickly. That return to normal, as well as the reopening of the two formerly closed TSA checkpoints, comes just ahead of the holiday travel season, which the airport expects to bring about 1 million passengers through its gates between Friday and Dec. 2.