What you need to know about air travel even if gov’t shutdown ends this week

The government shutdown that has already forced thousands of flight cancellations will continue to wreak havoc on air travel for days — even if Congress passes a deal, analysts say.

The Senate voted Sunday night to advance an agreement that could end the shutdown possibly by the end of this week, but travelers should not expect immediate relief from the chaos that’s affected even the wealthiest Americans, according to experts and officials.

Airlines will still be scrambling to fix their complex flight schedules, which include required maintenance stops, and dealing with disgruntled air traffic controllers and TSA agents returning to work after their government-imposed hiatus.

The “damage has already been done” for some travelers — especially those who have been told by airlines that their Thanksgiving and Christmas flights have been canceled and they need to rebook new ones, said former Federal Aviation Administration safety team representative and aviation analyst Kyle Bailey.

“It’s literally like piecing a puzzle together when you’re making changes to an airline schedule,” Bailey told The Post, noting that airlines are probably not going to reverse any of their cancellation decisions.

“My gut feeling is [the airlines] are just going to pretty much probably ride with those cuts” they’ve already made and try to make up the lost revenue after Christmas, he said.

Still, most of the travel problems should be fixed in time for the holiday rushes on Thanksgiving and Christmas, experts said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had warned over the weekend that a “substantial” number of Americans would likely miss Thanksgiving with their families if the shutdown continued much longer.

Flights have already been reduced at 40 airports thanks to shutdown-induced staffing shortages in radar centers and control towers and are expected to be cut even more Friday if the shutdown continues. 

On Monday, the 41st day of the government shutdown, there were more than 1,700 cancelled flights in and out of US airports. A day earlier saw the worst air-travel day of the shutdown — compounded by inclement weather — with more than 2,000 flights canceled.

The travel chaos is now even affecting the country’s One Percent.

Private jets have essentially been barred from 12 major airports — including JFK International in New York City and Newark Liberty in New Jersey — while the FAA grapples with its air-control staffing issues.

How quickly airlines are able to return to normal depends on how swiftly the FAA lifts its flight restrictions at the 40 impacted airports and “how out of place are airline crews” after the disruptions, according to Ian Petchenik, communications director for flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

“What we’ll see is a reset of the schedules where airlines were to add back as many new flights, basically as they can, instead of bringing back the old ones,” he said.

Bailey said another issue to consider is TSA agents’ willingness to return to work after they’ve been without a job — and salary — for more than 40 days and were likely forced to get side gigs to make ends meet.

He said there might be a “throw-in the-towel problem” with TSA workers’ mentality as they return or the issue of some who want to quit or have found a better job since they were furloughed.

President Trump said in a social-media rant Monday that he would be recommending a $10,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers who declined to take any time off during the shutdown.

“For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” he seethed in a posting.

“You will have a negative mark, at least in my mind, against your record. If you want to leave service in the near future, please do not hesitate to do so, with NO payment or severance of any kind!”