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United, Southwest and Delta airlines began cancelling flights for Friday in compliance with the FAA’s directive that will see reductions in flights at 40 major airports from Friday to help address air traffic controller shortage safety concerns as a result of the government shutdown.
On Thursday evening, Delta said it will be cancelling 170 flights on Friday and “fewer” on Saturday because it is a lighter travel day. Southwest said it will cancel 120 flights for Friday and United said it plans to cut 4% of its flights Friday through Sunday, and American Airlines said most customers would be unaffected and long-haul international travel would remain as scheduled, and that customers could change their flight or request a refund.
The affected airports covering more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the US – including Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities – such as New York, Houston and Chicago – multiple airports will be be affected, as will all three airports serving the Washington DC area, inevitably causing delays and cancellations for lawmakers and other travelers. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by the aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The flight reductions, according to ABC News, will start at 4% on Friday and increase to 10%. The flights affected by these reductions are scheduled during the hours of 6am to 10pm. The likely airspace shutdown comes two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday – typically the busiest travel period of the year – and raises pressures on lawmakers to reach a deal to end the shutdown.
Air traffic controllers, already in short supply, have been working unpaid since 1 October, with many working mandatory overtime and others taking second jobs, according to Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary. The Air Traffic Organization (ATO, the operational arm of the FAA) is responsible for the scheduling and safety of more than 44,000 flights and more than 3 million airline passengers daily across more than 29m square miles of airspace.
The government shutdown has left shortages of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers, according to the administration, in addition to at least 11,000 more receiving zero wages despite being categorized as essential workers. Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator, said the flight reductions are intended to keep the airspace safe during the shutdown.
“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns. “Our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible.
From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center. The figure, which is probably an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.
During weekends from 1 January to 30 September, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled, to 26.2 facilities.
The shutdown may also have other consequences, including slowing the investigation in a UPS cargo plane crash on Tuesday in Louisville that killed at least 12 people.
“At a minimum, the shutdown will certainly slow down the investigation,” said Matt Stoddard, an Atlanta-based transportation attorney, in a statement to the Guardian. “National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators must interact with other parts of government and those other departments’ responses will certainly be slowed.”
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Comments
Yeah. Stuck somewhere right now. Hoping for a flight ….
A sad commentary. And “slowing down the investigation” of a major accident indirectly lends harm to all who use air travel. Thanks for the excellent story @Old_Joe
Possibly of interest - Top 10 Billionaire jets of 2025
More than 1,000 flights canceled on second day of cuts tied to government shutdown- Charlotte, North Carolina, has the most cancellations – at 120
step by step, things are going from worse to worst. it's not inevitable, but likely, due to repugnant party hubris.
no capital letters right now. cut my thumb. check out doctor snowball's monthly letter. vital messages.
Please post additional details if you come across any.
the government until January 30 and include a package of three full-year appropriations bills."
"If the Senate eventually passes the amended measure, it still must be approved
by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature,
a process that could take several days."
"Under a deal struck with a handful of Democrats who rebuffed their party’s leadership,
Republicans agreed to a vote in December on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
The subsidies, which help lower-income Americans pay for private health insurance and are due
to expire at the end of the year, have been a Democratic priority during the funding battle."
"The vote to advance the bill passed by a 60-40 margin,
the minimum needed to overcome a Senate filibuster."
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-takes-aim-obamacare-historic-federal-shutdown-hits-40th-day-2025-11-09/
am missing something here regarding timing of the shutdown\shutup. how many days will private jets not fly at those airports?
and why did this come after the substantial cuts already affecting public flights?
A government in disarray. A stock market ripping.
People without food stamps. A new ballroom.
Some things just don’t make any sense.
Following are excerpts from a current NPR report:
Comment: Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday morning that he was "NOT HAPPY" with controllers who took time off.
The report does not state if Trump made these comments from the golf course at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has spent a considerable amount of time golfing or at Mar-a-Lago during the government shutdown.
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/01/nx-s1-5593444/trump-government-shutdown-travel
Would that be some excess tariff money? Or what’s left over from the anonymously funded ballroom?
Ol’ Pete over at the War Department on Fox Sunday offered to provide some military controllers to help out. Trump amplified that today suggesting he could permanently replace the derelict civillian controllers with military ones.
(Sorry, don’t recall source - likely one of his incessant tweets.)