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 travelers that a federal shutdown was to blame for hundreds of canceled flights.
By Friday afternoon, major airports serving Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas, 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 canceled, said he was used to bad weather causing disruptions but not shutdowns. He was able to book another flight home but was thinking about canceling 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 canceled, or about 3% of the 25,000 scheduled for the day, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. Though 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 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 Oct. 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 Friday that most customers would not be affected by the cuts imposed so far and that travelers who wanted to change or cancel a flight for a refund could do so. American Airlines said Friday morning that of the 12,000 people whose flights had been canceled, most had found some other accommodation within a few hours.
Flying is generally less congested in the weeks before Thanksgiving, which gives the industry some room to handle smaller cuts. About 1% of U.S. flights are canceled on an average day, Cirium said. During a major weather event, like a snowstorm or hurricane, that figure could be 5% to 10%, it said.
On Friday, the vast majority of U.S. 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 Friday affected flights within a state, mainly in California and Texas, it said.
While the nation’s busiest airports had the most canceled 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 canceled 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 canceled: four to Canada, three to Jamaica and one each to Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland.
At airports across the country, many travelers said they had arrived early and were relieved that their flights had not been canceled and that security lines were manageable.
“So far it’s tame,” Audrey Huzenis, a 40-year-old investment manager who was repacking a bag at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, said as she prepared to board an American Airlines flight to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a 10-day vacation. She added that “I’m more concerned with my flight back.”
Concerns that the disruptions could worsen appeared to be prompting some travelers 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 had “a significant increase” in ticket sales beginning Thursday “and that trend seems to be growing as we approach the weekend.”
Amtrak said that it would increase capacity on certain routes. And in an Amtrak waiting room in New York, company employees announced that passengers would need to make room for an expected influx of travelers affected by flight delays and cancellations.
For Carmen Villagomez, a United Airlines employee who was flying home to Chicago on Friday after training airline workers in the Philippines, the trip had so far been smooth. But Villagomez said she was furious that the shutdown could cause more problems for her industry.
“I’m 62 and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said during a morning layover at San Francisco International Airport. “I think both sides are to blame. It’s all about politics, obviously. It’s like, who’s got the strong arm and who’s going to give in first. And unfortunately, the people who pay the price are the citizens.”
Airlines for America, a trade group that represents major U.S. airlines, pleaded with Congress to end the shutdown.
“The busy Thanksgiving travel period will begin in two weeks, and we are expecting 31 million passengers — an all-time high,” the group said. “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.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.