Even if it ends in the coming days, the government shutdown won’t bring immediate relief from air travel chaos , according to aviation experts. Airlines and air traffic controllers alike will have significant work ahead of them in unraveling the mess that has built up over the course of the 41-day and counting shutdown. The aftereffects could even linger into the Thanksgiving travel period.

“You’ve got controllers who are clearly fatigued and will need to get caught up on rest,” says John Illson, a former airline pilot and Federal Aviation Administration official. “And because airline schedules have been disrupted, crew and aircraft are out of position, so flights will continue to be delayed or canceled.”

To be sure, the overall picture looks better than it did before Sunday night, whe

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