Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are among 40 of the busiest across the U.S. where flights will be cut starting Friday due to the government shutdown, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday it would reduce air traffic by 10% across “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers go unpaid and exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown.
The affected airports in more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S., including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.
On average, MSP Airport experiences 750 flights every day, with an estimated average of 60,000 daily departing passengers.
“It’s long past time for President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson to act like grown-ups and sit down and talk to us about how to get out of this shutdown so we don’t see impacts like the ones at MSP. Minnesotans are working hard trying to figure out how to afford their lives, especially health insurance. I won’t vote for a bill that hurts Minnesotans and does nothing to make life more affordable,” said Senator Tina Smith. “The only path forward is through negotiating, so air traffic in the skies above Minnesota and the country can keep operating safely and at full capacity and our government can finally open up again.”
Senator Smith is a cosponsor of the True Shutdown Fairness Act, to pay all federal workers during the government shutdown, including air traffic controllers. Wisconsin Sen. Johnson blocked both measures, arguing they were too complex to approve by unanimous consent.
The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work. The move also comes as the Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.
Controllers already have missed one full paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as the shutdown drags on.
The FAA has been delaying flights at times when airports or its other facilities are short on controllers.
LIST
1. Anchorage International in Alaska
2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in Georgia
3. Boston Logan International in Massachusetts
4. Baltimore/Washington International in Maryland
5. Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina
6. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International in Ohio
7. Dallas Love Field in Texas
8. Ronald Reagan Washington National in Virginia
9. Denver International in Colorado
10. Dallas/Fort Worth International in Texas
11. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County in Michigan
12. Newark Liberty International in New Jersey
13. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International in Florida
14. Honolulu International in Hawaii
15. Houston Hobby in Texas
16. Washington Dulles International in Virginia
17. George Bush Houston Intercontinental in Texas
18. Indianapolis International in Indiana
19. John F. Kennedy International in New York
20. Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas
21. Los Angeles International in California
22. LaGuardia Airport in New York
23. Orlando International in Florida
24. Chicago Midway International in Illinois
25. Memphis International in Tennessee
26. Miami International in Florida
27. Minneapolis/St Paul International in Minnesota
28. Oakland International in California
29. Ontario International in California
30. Chicago O`Hare International in Illinois
31. Portland International in Oregon
32. Philadelphia International in Pennsylvania
33. Phoenix Sky Harbor International in Arizona
34. San Diego International in California
35. Louisville International in Kentucky
36. Seattle/Tacoma International in Washington
37. San Francisco International in California
38. Salt Lake City International in Utah
39. Teterboro in New Jersey
40. Tampa International in Florida
Airlines shuffling schedules
Passengers should start to be notified about cancellations Thursday. Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.
United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes. United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly, even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable.
The head of Frontier Airlines recommended that travelers buy backup tickets with another airline to avoid being stranded.
The cuts could affect as many as 1,800 flights, or upwards of 268,000 passengers, per day, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Airlines routinely cut thousands of flights when a major snowstorm moves across the country in the wintertime. Last January, more than 2,000 flights were cancelled on one day as a storm moved across Texas, Louisiana and much of the Gulf coast.
The difference is that these cuts being made during the shutdown will last indefinitely until safety data improves.
“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,” FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”
Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.
Shutdown already straining airlines
Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, Bedford said.
“We can’t ignore it,” he said.
Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that they would meet with airline executives to figure out how to safely implement the reductions.
Major airlines, aviation unions and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.
The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system and “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience," said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement.
Duffy warned earlier this week that there could be chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags on long enough for air traffic controllers to miss their second full paycheck next week.
He said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more.
Controller staffing worsening
Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.
But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.
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 system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.