The Federal Aviation Administration’s unprecedented order to scale back flights nationwide due to the record-long government shutdown will go into effect Friday morning.
The 40 airports selected by the FAA cover more than 20 states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the order.
In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be affected, while the ripple effects could reach smaller airports as well.
Airlines scrambled to adjust their flight schedules and began canceling flights Thursday in anticipation of the FAA’s official order, as travelers with plans for the weekend and beyond waited nervously to hear whether their flights would depart as scheduled.
According to FlightAware, more than 810 flights have been canceled nationwide. Delta Air Lines said it would cut about 170 flights on Friday, and American Airlines planned to cut 220 flights a day through Monday.
The FAA said the reductions would start at 4% and increase to 10% by November 14.
They must be in effect between 6am and 10pm and affect all commercial airlines.
The agency said the cuts are necessary to ease pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for more than a month.
Many are working six-day weeks with mandatory overtime, and more and more are calling out as financial pressure and exhaustion increase.
“You can’t expect people to go to work if they’re not getting a paycheck,” said Kelly Matthews of Flat Rock, Michigan, a frequent business traveler who has canceled most of her upcoming trips.
“I mean, it’s not a matter of them not wanting to do the work, but you can’t afford to pay for gas, your childcare and everything else.”
The order comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.
Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on customers. Some planned to focus on shortening routes to and from small and medium-sized cities.
According to the Department of Transportation, airlines are required to refund customers whose flights are canceled, but not to cover secondary costs such as food and hotel accommodations, unless a delay or cancellation is due to a contributing factor within the airlines’ control.
Industry analyst Henry Harteveldt warned that the reductions “will have a noticeable impact on the U.S. air transportation system.”
The cuts could also slow package shipping, as two airports on the list are major distribution centers for delivery companies: FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee, and UPS in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of this week’s deadly cargo plane crash.
#FAAs #order #cancel #flights #nationwide #due #government #shutdown #effect