Airlines anticipate a 6% reduction in flights at 40 major airports this Tuesday due to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandate, as the government shutdown continues. This comes despite the Senate’s approval of a bipartisan agreement aimed at resolving the ongoing deadlock.
By Tuesday morning, over 1,100 flights within the U.S. had already been canceled, with an additional 850 delayed, as reported by FlightAware. United Airlines has made public its extensive list of canceled flights for both Tuesday and Wednesday, impacting travel across the nation throughout the day.
Key airports in bustling areas such as Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Dallas-Fort Worth will be heavily affected. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy is scheduled to provide further updates on air travel from Chicago O’Hare International Airport later this afternoon.
Last week, the FAA unveiled a plan to establish a predetermined percentage of daily flight cancellations to accommodate air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who have been working for 42 consecutive days without pay. The scheduled flight cancellations are expected to escalate to 8% by Thursday and 10% by Friday, according to agency directives.
This decline in air travel occurs even as a group of eight Democratic senators broke from their party late Monday to support a bipartisan bill aimed at ending the government shutdown, which is now pending passage by the House and approval from President Trump, who has expressed his support for it.
In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump mentioned air traffic controllers who he claimed were not showing up for work, proposing a $10,000 bonus for those who remained on the job throughout the shutdown, although he conceded he was unsure of the funding sources.
As critical personnel, air traffic controllers cannot simply leave their jobs despite the lack of pay. A law from 2018 mandates that employees working during a government shutdown will eventually receive back pay. However, airports have faced staffing shortages and delays as workers deal with the uncertainty surrounding their payment.
Airlines have assured customers they are making every effort to minimize travel disruptions and increasing flexibility for travelers. Unfortunately, as one traveler recounted to NBC News, all three of her booked flights were canceled.
Even with the potential end of the shutdown by week’s end, the flight system may require additional time to stabilize and return to normal schedules. On Monday alone, over 2,400 U.S. flights were canceled, with only 4% attributed to the FAA’s mandatory reductions. More than five million air travelers have been impacted by delays stemming from a lack of air traffic controllers to manage airport traffic.
Surprisingly, only 11 flights were canceled due to these staffing issues from October 1 to October 29. However, from October 30 to November 9, the cancellation count surged to 4,162, with a staggering 3,756 cancellations occurring between November 7 and November 9, coinciding with the FAA’s flight reduction mandates.
While travelers have expressed understanding for the challenges faced by airport workers, Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, warned that the pressure on controllers compromises public safety. “This is the erosion of the safety margin the public never sees, but America relies on every single day,” he stated at a recent news conference.
The current situation highlights the interconnected nature of air travel and government operations, calling for a collective effort to ensure that air traffic safety remains uncompromised during this challenging time.