On to the next crisis . . .

It appears the government shutdown has come to an end, but it's a reminder that there are so many forces outside of your control in the airline biz.

When I interviewed people at one of my prior jobs, one of the questions I liked to ask was, “Do you know what the price of oil is today?”

I don’t think anyone ever did. (And neither did I, to be fair.)

But that wasn’t the point. The point was to make sure people knew what they were getting into when they joined a company whose client base made up entirely of airlines. Suddenly, world events that were beyond the control of our clients would inevitably have a knock-on effect on us at the agency.

While others can debate the nuts and bolts of the shutdown’s effect on Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the Department of Transportations’s approach to the situation, I see yet another geopolitical curveball thrown at airlines, their suppliers and their passengers.

Now airlines are hardly the only type of business to be affected by random world events out of their control. But, I could make the argument that there are few businesses that are affected more by them. (I can think of a lot of businesses severely impacted affected by an Icelandic volcano eruption, the price of oil and a government shutdown, but not many that were hit hard by all three.)

But, like any tough situation in business (or life), it’s all about how you react. While airlines do not always have the greatest track records of handling unexpected circumstances, I do think the US-based airlines have done about the best they can with this one. During my trips this week, I received plenty of pro-active communication about schedule reductions and potential delays or cancellations. But, the fact is, there were lots of people who could not get where they wanted to go this week, and that is always a terrible situation.

Hopefully, things will start to calm down at airports around the country with the recent votes, although there are certainly structural issues with ATC staffing that remain an issue. Nevertheless, the industry can take a quick breath, and get ready for the next curveball.

We don’t know what it is, but it’s coming.