U.S. flight cancellations begin after FAA shutdown order

U.S. airlines began canceling a whole bunch of flights on Friday, hours after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the cuts amid the more-than-monthlong government shutdown.

The reductions were ordered as air traffic controllers have missed their paychecks on account of the federal government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history. Air traffic control staffing shortages have been disrupting flights at several major U.S. airports, vexing travelers and airline executives alike.

Air traffic controller shortages were delaying flights at several major U.S. airports on Friday, including Newark Liberty International Airport in Latest Jersey, San Francisco International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

The sudden flight cuts this week forced airlines to scramble with schedule adjustments and ensuring crews are where they should be despite the last-minute changes.

Roughly 780 U.S. flights were canceled as of two p.m. ET Friday, in keeping with aviation data firm Cirium, about 3% of the whole schedule for the day. That scale of disruption is fairly common for routine disruptions like major thunderstorms, however the Department of Transportation warned that cancellations could ramp up.

Based on the FAA’s order, the flight cuts will increase to 10% over the subsequent week, starting with 4% on Friday, 6% by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday and eventually 10% on Nov. 14.

Friday’s cancellation levels were the 72nd worst for the U.S. flights market since Jan. 1, 2024, in keeping with Cirium. That period also included a Southwest Airlines Christmas meltdown after severe weather and mass delays at Delta Air Lines last summer within the wake of a CrowdStrike tech outage.

While the FAA required airlines to make cuts, the overall aviation sector, which incorporates private jets, was not required to make similarly broad cuts. The order, nevertheless, said that staffing shortages could affect general aviation and that those private flights could resist 10% cuts at airports that the agency designated “high-impact,” including Latest Jersey’s Teterboro Airport and Texas’ William P. Hobby Airport in Houston and Dallas Love Field.

The FAA didn’t reply to requests for comment.

A spokesman for the National Business Aviation Association said the industry can be affected by air traffic staffing shortages and reduced capability, and that airports could deny some airplanes the flexibility to land there.

NBAA’s president and CEO Ed Bolen said that “our sector will proceed to pursue mandatory and voluntary means to make sure we’re a part of the answer to the challenges posed in the present environment.”

The financial impact of the most recent disruptions is not immediately clear. The cancellations could help lift airlines’ unit revenue with customers competing for fewer seats, “but we also consider the prolonged shutdown and widespread cancelations will impact booking demand within the near term,” Scott Group, an airline analyst at Wolfe Research, wrote in a note Friday.

The cuts come during a generally low-demand period for travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, however it still sent many travelers trying to find alternatives. Rental automotive company Hertz said that reservations over the past two days for one-way rentals spiked greater than 20% from the identical period last yr.

Major network airlines said the disruptions were largely centered on regional flights that fly to smaller cities. United Airlines, for instance, said its hub-to-hub flying and its long-haul international flights would not be canceled due to order.

American Airlines, for its part, said it was limiting disruptions to customers by avoiding cuts to routes it only flies a few times a day. As an alternative, the airline is trimming a couple of flights a day from high-frequency markets – like reducing every day departures between its hub at Dallas Fort Value International Airport to Northwest Arkansas National Airport from 10 to eight, and Boston Logan International to Ronald Reagan Washington National from 10 to nine.

The carrier canceled 221 flights on Friday, in keeping with CEO Robert Isom, who said the airline is “frustrated” with the reduction.

Isom said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the airline is working to make sure flights to all destinations still remain in place, but that the frequency of those flight paths is decreasing.

“What we have done today is we tried to attenuate the impact on all of our customers — there’s only 220 flights out of 6,200 flights, and we have done it in a way that basically impacts our smaller aircraft,” Isom said. “This level of cancellation goes to grow over time, and that is something that’s going to be problematic.”

Airlines offered travelers alternative flights and waived change fees for affected customers.

Experts recommend staying on top of fixing schedules by checking airline apps and web sites, in addition to reviewing the fantastic print on travel insurance.