Ten percent of flights at 40 major American airports could be cut from Friday (7 November) if the U.S. government shutdown continues.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford made the announcement on Wednesday citing air traffic control safety concerns, as the federal government shutdown reached its 36th day, marking the longest in U.S. history.
The decision sent airlines scrambling to reduce flights within 36 hours as passengers flooded customer service lines seeking updates.
Duffy said the cuts could be reversed if Democrats agreed to reopen the government, framing the move as necessary to protect public safety amid the escalating crisis.
The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay. The strain has caused widespread delays, with airlines estimating at least 3.2 million travellers affected so far.
“We had a gut check of what is our job,” Duffy said. “Our job is to make sure we make the hard decisions to continue to keep the airspace safe.”
According to Reuters, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told airlines that capacity cuts will start at 4%, increase to 5% on Saturday, 6% on Sunday, and reach 10% next week. International flights are exempt.
“When we see pressures building in these 40 markets, we just can’t ignore it,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.
“We can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating so the system is extremely safe today, will be extremely safe tomorrow,” Bedford added.
While the FAA did not identify the 40 airports, industry analysts expect the cuts to affect the 30 busiest hubs, including those in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Dallas. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said the reductions could eliminate up to 1,800 flights and more than 268,000 seats.
The FAA is already about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of target levels, with many employees working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks before the shutdown. The agency has warned that further restrictions could follow if staffing levels deteriorate.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing Delta, United, American, and Southwest, said carriers are still assessing the effects.
“We are working with the federal government to understand all details of the new reduction mandate and will strive to mitigate impacts to passengers and shippers,” it said.
Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic carrier, said it is reviewing how the cuts will affect its schedule and urged lawmakers to end the funding standoff.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines, called the shutdown “cruel attacks on all Americans.” Its president, Sara Nelson, said the false narrative that the government must choose between paying federal workers and protecting healthcare was “outrageous when both crises were manufactured by the exact people who can fix it.”
The federal government remains largely paralysed as Republicans and Democrats continue their standoff over a funding bill. Democrats refuse to approve a plan that omits health insurance subsidies, while Republicans have rejected those demands. President Donald Trump and his administration have sought to intensify pressure on Democrats by highlighting the growing consequences for ordinary Americans.
Since the shutdown began on 1 October, it has forced the furlough of about 750,000 federal employees, disrupted food assistance programmes, and closed multiple government services. Duffy warned that if the impasse continues, the situation could lead to “mass chaos” and possibly the closure of portions of national airspace.
Airlines have repeatedly urged an end to the shutdown, citing safety risks. Shares of United and American Airlines fell about 1% in after-hours trading on Wednesday (5 November). Carriers said operations have not yet been severely affected, but bookings could drop if the shutdown drags on.
More than 2,100 flights were delayed that day, and Bedford said that between 20% and 40% of controllers at the agency’s 30 largest airports failed to report for duty.
In addition to the flight cuts, Duffy said authorities will also limit space launches to specific hours and impose new restrictions on general aviation flights to ease pressure on controllers.
“We can’t ignore what’s happening in our airspace,” he said. “We have to act decisively to keep it safe.”
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow ear...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time bein...
More than half of the Syrian city of Aleppo's ancient markets have now been rebuilt, over a decade after they were reduced to rubble during the...
Oil prices fell after the U.S. expanded economic sanctions on Iran, as Tehran vowed to retaliate and warned it had tools to respond, raising concerns over potential disruption to regional oil supplies.
Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border with China's Tibet, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, killing 162 people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. It comes as Britain and France pledged stronger military support for Ukraine.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for greater economic cooperation among Muslim countries, saying their combined economic weight remains disproportionately small compared with their population, strategic location and resources.
Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has died, according to a United Nations official.
A glacial collapse that triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday has killed at least 270 people, with more than 1,000 still missing. Here are some of the most devastating glacier-related disasters recorded around the world:
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 3.7 million children across Afghanistan are suffering from acute wasting, a dangerous form of malnutrition, including around one million with severe acute malnutrition, as hospitals and aid services face rising demand and funding shortages.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has dismissed media reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow earlier this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO, dismissing them as "scare stories," which had nothing to do with reality.
Icelanders will vote on Saturday, 29 August, on whether to resume negotiations with the European Union, in a referendum that could reopen the country’s long-debated membership question.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment