More than 900 flights canceled as air traffic cuts take effect: Updates from around the country

WASHINGTON — U.S. airlines began phasing in hundreds of flight cuts at some of the country’s busiest airports on Friday, including those in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago, due to the government shutdown. 

The airports spanned more than two dozen states, but the impact is likely to ripple far beyond those locations. 

As of 3:15 p.m. Eastern, 941 U.S. flights had been canceled on Friday, according to FlightAware.com. 

Airlines scrambled Thursday to figure out where to cut, and travelers with plans for the weekend and beyond were waiting nervously to see if their flights would take off as scheduled.

Airlines made planned cancellations into the weekend, directing passengers to check apps to learn their flight status. Delta Air Lines said it would scratch roughly 170 flights on Friday, and American Airlines planned to cut 220 a day through Monday. 

The FAA said the reductions would start at 4% and ramp up to 10% by Nov. 14. They would be in effect from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and would affect all commercial airlines.

During the first day of airlines phasing in hundreds of flight cuts at some of the country’s busiest airports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News the cuts could go up to 20% if the shutdown continues. 

“Most of the controllers can navigate missing one paycheck, virtually none of them can navigate missing two paychecks,” Duffy said. “So if this shutdown doesn’t end relatively soon, the consequence of that is going to be more controllers don’t come to work, and then we’re going to have to continue to assess the pressure in the airspace and make decisions that may, again, move us from 10% to 15%, maybe to 20.”

Airlines are currently phasing in reductions at the direction of the FAA, starting by eliminating 4% of flights at the targeted airports and building to 10% by next Friday, according to the agency’s order.

“I don’t want to see [20% cuts], or, by the way, if controllers start coming to work and the pressure goes down, we can move those numbers in the other direction,” Duffy said Friday.  

The transportation secretary also acknowledged that whenever the shutdown ends, it will take time to end the reductions based on when more air traffic controllers come to work and whether airlines have pre-emptively canceled flights.

“The problem is the airlines have to then put those flights back out for booking again, And so it’s going to take some time for the airlines to respond,” Duffy said. “So once we see more controllers in the towers, then airlines have to respond to that, so it can be, you, know, days, if not a week, before we get back to full forced flights when the shutdown ends.”

Since her first flight was delayed, it’s been smooth sailing for WFAA reporter Janel Forte who is flying across Texas to four different airports on three different airlines today to document how the FAA reductions are impacting travelers.

During the second-leg, Forte arrived ahead of schedule from Houston to San Antonio. Next up, her final flight of the day from San Antonio to Dallas Love Field.  

Airlines for America, a trade association for the major U.S. airlines, issued a statement urging Congress to end the government shutdown. 

“We are now 38 days into this unprecedented shutdown—the longest in our country’s history. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers are receiving yet another empty paycheck. More than 3.5 million passengers have experienced delays or cancellations because of air traffic control staffing concerns since the shutdown began,” the statement said. “This simply is not sustainable.”

“The busy Thanksgiving travel period will begin in two weeks, and we are expecting 31 million passengers—an all-time high—over the holiday (November 21—December 1),” the trade association added. “We implore Congress to act with extreme urgency to get the federal government reopened, get federal workers paid and get our airspace back to normal operations. Time is of the essence.”

Negotiations to end the government shutdown appeared to be taking hold this week, but stumbled on Thursday. 

“They were trending in that direction. And then, yesterday, everything kind of, the wheels came off,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.

The Senate majority leader pleaded with his colleagues to “end these weeks of misery” as many Democrats have said they will continue to vote against reopening the government until Trump and Republican leaders negotiate with them on an extension of health care benefits.

A small group of Democrats has been negotiating with Republicans on a deal that would end the shutdown with only an agreement for a future health care vote, instead of a guarantee that expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies would be expended.

While most Senate Democrats wouldn’t support that, Republicans only need five additional votes to fund the government.

“The time to act is now,” Thune said in his opening remarks on the Senate floor Friday.

Thune said he intends to keep the Senate working through the weekend as lawmakers struggle to end the country’s longest government shutdown ever.

The Senate has been scheduled to be out next week. He was asked about the optics of that as Americans deal with flight cancellations and other ramifications of the shutdown.

“We’ll see what happens over the course of the next couple of days, but I would expect that we’re going to be here for the weekend,” Thune said.

The Senate majority leader pleaded with his colleagues to “end these weeks of misery” as many Democrats have said they will continue to vote against reopening the government until Trump and Republican leaders negotiate with them on an extension of health care benefits.

A small group of Democrats has been negotiating with Republicans on a deal that would end the shutdown with only an agreement for a future health care vote, instead of a guarantee that expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies would be expended.

While most Senate Democrats wouldn’t support that, Republicans only need five additional votes to fund the government.

“The time to act is now,” Thune said in his opening remarks on the Senate floor Friday.

Delta Air Lines says it has completed all the cuts it plans to make for Friday, Saturday and Sunday to comply with the FAA order.

“Delta is temporarily reducing flights at 40 US airports to comply with federal directives. All planned FAA-directed flight cancellations for Nov. 7-9 have been completed,” the airline said on X.

Customers have been notified if their flight is canceled and they have been automatically rebooked on the next best option. Refunds are available for anyone who does not want to travel.

Delta directed questions about how many flights have been canceled to the FlightAware numbers since these cuts are affecting the entire industry. FlightAware shows 851 cancellations on Friday, 670 on Saturday, and 274 on Sunday so far. By comparison, 202 flights were canceled on Thursday.

Airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt, who’s president of Atmosphere Research Group, told the AP on Friday that even though the total number of flights canceled nationwide is large, the impact at each airport is generally pretty small and spread out throughout the day.

“The airlines are doing their level best to minimize inconvenience and to avoid canceling too many flights at any one time in order to obviously get people where they want to go,” Harteveldt told AP. “They want to make sure that they have some flexibility.”

“So I’m not hearing of chaos,” he said. “There’s certainly anxiety. There’s uncertainty. There’s stress. And look, if your flight has been canceled, it’s very disruptive for you. I don’t want to minimize the impact.”

But even if the airlines have been able to manage these initial cuts without significant impact, Harteveldt said the impact will grow next week as the airlines work their way up to cutting 10% of their flights by next Friday.

By noon on Friday, a total of 851 flights were canceled in the U.S., according to tracker Flight Aware.

Delays exceeded 1,600 flights as ground and departure delays spread across some of the nation’s busiest airports. 

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson was experiencing an average of 45 minutes for departures due to staffing, according to the FAA. Delay times were expected to increase. 

In the nation’s capital, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was experiencing ground delays averaging 83 minutes due to “other.” 

WFAA reporter Janel Forte is flying across Texas to four different airports on three different airlines today to document how the FAA reductions are impacting travelers. 

It didn’t take long for issues to pop up as her first flight from DFW was delayed about 40 minutes due to air traffic management delays in Houston.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke to reporters at Reagan National Airport (DCA) this morning and once again urged an end to the government shutdown. 

During his comments, Duffy explained they determined the safest way to get to 10% in cuts across 40 airports was a phased-in approach. On Friday, the reductions start at 4% and will increase every couple days by 2%, according to Duffy, ramping up to 10% by Friday, Nov. 14.

He acknowledged that even when the government shutdown ends, it may take some time to remove the restrictions based on when more air traffic controllers show up again. 

If you are already at the airport when your flight is canceled, get in line to speak to a customer service representative, and call or go online to connect to the airline’s reservations staff to find a new flight. 

You can also reach out to airlines on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, because the companies might respond quickly there. 

If your flight is canceled, airlines will rebook you on a later flight for no additional charge. Travelers stand a better chance of finding seats now because we’re not in peak travel timing yet. 

Major carriers like 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.

Carriers 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 results from a contributing factor within the airlines’ control, according to the Department of Transportation.

As of 9 a.m. Eastern, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport had around 33 cancellations.

Travelers are seeking alternative modes of transportation as the FAA-mandated flight cuts take effect. 

According to the Associated Press, Hertz is reporting a sharp increase in one-way car rentals. One-way reservations have spiked more than 20% through the weekend, compared with the same period last year.

“We join the airlines in urging Congress to swiftly pass a clean continuing resolution and restore certainty for travelers,” Hertz CEO Gil West said in a statement. “Every day of delay creates unnecessary disruption.”

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown. The agency has already been delaying flights at times when airports or other FAA facilities are short on controllers.

The aviation safety agency said the cuts will keep airspace safe during the government shutdown, which is now the longest on record.

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.

Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said Wednesday at a news conference.

“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,” Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”

“We can’t ignore it,” he said, adding that even if the shutdown ends before Friday, the FAA wouldn’t automatically resume normal operations until staffing improves and stabilizes.

FAA flight reductions began to take effect Friday, with more than 800 flights canceled nationwide as of 6 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware. 

The live flight tracker does not provide reasons for delays or cancellations, so some of the affected flights may not be due to FAA flight reductions. 

Here are the 40 airports expected to begin phasing in flight cuts starting Friday, Nov. 7. 

• Anchorage International (ANC)
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
• Boston Logan International (BOS)
• Baltimore/Washington International (BWI)
• Charlotte Douglas International (CLT)
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG)
• Dallas Love Field (DAL)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)
• Denver International (DEN)
• Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW)
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW)
• Newark Liberty International (EWR)
• Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)
• Honolulu International (HNL)
• Houston Hobby Airport (HOU)
• Washington Dulles International (IAD)
• George Bush Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
• Indianapolis International (IND)
• New York John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
• Las Vegas McCarran International (LAS)
• Los Angeles International (LAX)
• New York LaGuardia (LGA)
• Orlando International (MCO)
• Chicago Midway (MDW)
• Memphis International (MEM)
• Miami International (MIA)
• Minneapolis/St. Paul International (MSP)
• Oakland International (OAK)
• Ontario International (ONT)
• Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)
• Portland International (PDX)
• Philadelphia International (PHL)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)
• San Diego International (SAN)
• Louisville International (SDF)
• Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA)
• San Francisco International (SFO)
• Salt Lake City International (SLC)
• Teterboro Airport (TEB)
• Tampa International (TPA)

The Associated Press contributed to this report