Alaska Airlines says not passing a federal tax on to passengers is paying off.

When Congress failed to fund the FAA by the end of July, federal airline taxes and fees expired. Some carriers continued charging anyway, pocketing the profit, but not Alaska Airlines.

The airline says bookings soared 26 percent the following week.

“These were taxes and fees that we were turning over to the government in the first place and therefore, we just didn’t feel it was right to keep the money,” said Alaska Airlines spokesperson Bobbi Egan.

The FAA has been forced to furlough nearly 4,000 employees and issue stop-work orders on more than 200 construction and other projects paid for with trust fund monies. Work on another $2.5 billion in airport construction grants has stopped because employees who handle the grants have been furloughed. Tens of thousands of private sector workers have been affected.

The furlough includes 200 people from Washington state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.