The first wave of flight cancellations ordered by the Trump administration in response to the government shutdown hit airports across the United States on Friday, foreshadowing what could be wider disruptions in air travel if Congress does not reach a spending deal soon. Although airlines said they were able to limit the fallout, there was a growing sense of frustration among some travellers that a federal shutdown was to blame for hundreds of cancelled flights. By Friday afternoon, major airports serving Austin, Texas; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Phoenix; San Francisco; and Washington, DC, also had flight delays ranging from 15 minutes to several hours that were caused at least partly by limited air traffic controller staffing.
Bryan Dick, who was at LaGuardia Airport in New York and trying to get home to Phoenix after his flight was cancelled, said he was used to bad weather causing disruptions, but not shutdowns in Washington. He was able to book another flight home but was thinking about cancelling a work trip in December if the shutdown dragged on. “This one’s different because it’s sort of man-made,” said Dick, 44, an electrical engineer who had visited New York for a conference. “I think people in Congress need to do their jobs because a lot of people out here are living paycheck to paycheck.”
As of midday Friday, about 780 flights had been cancelled, or about 3% of the 25,000 scheduled for the day, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. While the cuts were relatively limited, they will be more difficult to manage as the reductions rise. And if the shutdown lingers, travel around Thanksgiving, one of the busiest periods of the year, could be affected. Starting on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration required airlines to cut 4% of flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, including those serving Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and other major cities. The mandate will remain in place through Monday, rising to 6% on Tuesday, 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday.
The Trump administration has said the cuts are necessary to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay since the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, began October 1. On Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested that the reductions could reach 20% at some airports if the shutdown continued into the Thanksgiving travel period. By then, he said, there could be “more controllers who decide they can’t come to work and control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job.”
Major airlines said on Friday that most customers would not be affected by the cuts imposed so far and that travellers who wanted to change or cancel a flight for a refund could do so. American Airlines said on Friday morning that of the 12,000 people whose flights had been cancelled, most had found some other accommodation within a few hours. On Friday, the vast majority of US routes still had some service, and the airlines appeared to be taking a surgical approach to the cancellations, which were concentrated among short flights, according to Cirium. About 1 in 5 of the cancellations on Friday affected flights within a state, mainly in California and Texas, it said.
While the nation’s busiest airports had the most cancelled flights, the cuts disproportionately affected some of the country’s smaller, regional airports. Waco Regional Airport in Texas had the steepest decline in service, a 66% drop, after American Airlines cancelled two of its three round-trip flights with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. American also cut one of two round-trip flights between Dallas and Wichita Falls Regional Airport in Texas, halving service at that small airport. International flights were largely unaffected by the reductions. As of Friday morning, only 10 international flights were cancelled: four to Canada, three to Jamaica and one each to Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Concerns that the disruptions could worsen appeared to be prompting some travellers to look for other ways to get around. One-way bookings for Hertz rental cars through the weekend spiked more than 20% in two days, a company spokesperson said. Bus company Megabus said that it had seen “a significant increase” in ticket sales beginning on Thursday “and that trend seems to be growing as we approach the weekend.”
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