Operations at the Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) have been “business as usual” amid the government shutdown, says airport Executive Director Herbert Judon.
The closing of the federal government on Oct. 1 has kept pay from flowing to federal employees at the airport for a month. During the Augusta Aviation Commission’s monthly meeting Thursday morning, taking care to avoid commenting on politics, Judon spoke to commissioners and staff that the shutdown has not stopped TSA and FAA employees from clocking in at AGS.
“We’ve been fortunate to date that our employees are essential. And I know we hear stories in the media, in other cities, about sick-outs with air traffic controllers and stuff like that,” Judon said. “We have not had that issue to date here in Augusta, so the employees have been coming to work.”
Judon mentioned that airport administration has been in regular contact with airport CEOs, participating industry group calls once or twice a week to keep up-to-date on the shutdown’s industry impact, such as staff furloughs and reduced operations.
“The shutdown also impacts us in not only with air traffic control and TSA, but a lot of the other services that we receive from the federal government,” he said.
Earlier that morning, at the end of the Construction and Special Projects Committee meeting, Rep. Rick Allen had visited the airport to address its federal workers. During his presentation, he lauded Augusta’s community for “stepping up” to support workers impacted by the shutdown.
“And that’s just the kind of community we are. And I want to thank every one of you for what you’re doing,” said Allen.
DeAndre Davis, customer service supervisor at AGS, told the Aviation Commission about staff’s ongoing efforts to “curtail some of the hardship” endured by the roughly 85 federal workers staffed at Augusta Regional.
“One of the things that we’ve done is reached out to local churches and businesses, asking them to support in any way they can,” said Davis. “Whether that’s to provide food for them for lunch, or any type of gift cards that may be able to allow them to put gas in their car, and get some other essential items that they may need.”
AGS staff have been in contact with some 19 local churches so far, Davis said, six of which have already donated food—” Some of them have done it twice in one week and already committed to do it every week, at least one of the days.” Another church, he said, had donated $1,000 in gift cards for 55 of the federal employees. He then urged AGS staffers and administrators to keep an eye out for other churches, businesses or organizations who may want to contribute to the growing aid efforts.
“We wanted to just encourage them, to let them know that even though we cannot truly understand what they are feeling… that we’re here to support them and that we appreciate them for not only showing up, still showing up with the ideology of serving passengers as they go through,” Davis said.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering general reporting for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com
