Mass cancellations of flights in the United States are causing havoc for travellers after the government ordered a reduction in the flight schedule due to a lack of air traffic controllers.

The reduced flight schedule, set to begin on Friday, comes as the US continues with its longest-ever government shutdown, which began on October 1, after Congress was unable to agree on a federal funding bill.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

On Thursday night, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a phased-in reduction plan, which sets out that airlines must cut 4 percent of domestic flights from 6am EST (11:00 GMT) on Friday and gradually increase to 10 percent by November 14.

So far, no international flights have been affected by the planned cancellations.

According to an estimate by the aviation analytics firm Cirium, about 1,800 flights are being cancelled – a reduction of 268,000 seats.

Here’s what we know about the cancellations:

Why are flights being cancelled in the US?

Since the October 1 government shutdown, now the longest in history, there has been no sign of the Republicans and Democrats ending their standoff over healthcare funding and agreeing on a new funding bill. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including air traffic controllers, have been furloughed or are working unpaid.

While federal workers have received back pay following the end of previous government shutdowns, President Donald Trump has threatened to sack many of them altogether if the Democrats do not agree to sign off on the funding bill.

Advertisement

So far, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been required to work without pay as they are classified as essential workers, so they will not receive payment until the shutdown is lifted.

However, in an attempt to alleviate pressure on the already overworked industry, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the decision to reduce flights now, before the busy Thanksgiving season at the end of the month.

In a post on X on Thursday night, Duffy said the decision to reduce flights was not about politics but about “assessing the data and alleviating building risk in the system as controllers continue working without pay”.

“I’d love to pay them, but I can’t,” he added in a later post.

Is it safe to fly?

Yes.

“It’s safe to fly today, tomorrow, and the day after because of the proactive actions we are taking,” Duffy wrote in a post accompanying a wider statement.

The statement also cited FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, who said the agency would “not hesitate to take further action” to alleviate pressure on workers.

“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people can fly,” Bedford said, adding that they were monitoring the situation.

It remains unclear how long the cancellations will continue.

Which airports will be affected?

Forty of the country’s busiest airports have cancelled flights, including:

• Anchorage international, Alaska
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international, Georgia
• Boston Logan international, Massachusetts
• Baltimore/Washington international, Maryland
• Charlotte Douglas international, North Carolina
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky international, Kentucky
• Dallas Love Field, Texas
• Ronald Reagan Washington national, Virginia
• Denver international, Colorado
• Dallas/Fort Worth international, Texas
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Michigan
• Newark Liberty international, New Jersey
• Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood international, Florida
• Honolulu international, Hawaii
• Houston Hobby, Texas
• Washington Dulles international, Virginia
• George Bush Houston intercontinental, Texas
• Indianapolis international, Indiana
• John F Kennedy international, New York
• Harry Reid international, Las Vegas
• Los Angeles international, California
• LaGuardia, New York
• Orlando international, Florida
• Chicago Midway international, Illinois
• Memphis international, Tennessee
• Miami international, Florida
• Minneapolis/St Paul international, Minnesota
• Oakland international, California
• Ontario international, California
• Chicago O`Hare international, Illinois
• Portland international, Oregon
• Philadelphia international, Pennsylvania
• Phoenix Sky Harbour international, Arizona
• San Diego international, California
• Louisville international, Kentucky
• Seattle/Tacoma international, Washington
• San Francisco international, California
• Salt Lake City international, Utah
• Teterboro, New Jersey
• Tampa international, Florida

Advertisement

When was the last time this happened?

The last government shutdown in January 2019, during Trump’s first term as president, lasted for 35 days.

On that occasion, travel was temporarily suspended at New York’s LaGuardia airport when several air traffic workers who had been required to work without pay failed to turn up, calling in sick instead. The travel suspension at LaGuardia led to delays at other major airports, including in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

This action, along with other staffing issues, prompted Trump to agree to temporarily end the shutdown. The government shutdown formally ended in February.

Which flights are cancelled and what can travellers do?

International flights will not be cancelled.

It is unclear exactly which domestic flights are affected, however. Katy Nastro, a travel analyst at Going, the flight-finder website, told ABC News that “less full flights to smaller cities, or flights with more limited schedules to begin with, are most likely on the chopping block”.

Alaska Airlines said most cancellations will affect high-frequency routes, to allow travellers to be accommodated with minimal disruption.

The Department of Transportation said airlines would be required to issue full refunds to travellers whose flights had been cancelled, but secondary costs, including food and hotel accommodation, would not be covered unless a delay or cancellation was within the control of the carrier.

The CEO of Frontier Airlines, Barry Biffle, recommended that travellers buy backup tickets with another airline to avoid being stranded or missing an essential trip if the flight gets cancelled.

Who is the worst affected?

Todd Curtis, founder of Airsafe, an aviation safety website, told Al Jazeera that the shutdown was having a significant impact on workers.

“If there’s not enough staff, there’s procedures in place. What’s a more important issue, and this was handed out by the secretary of transportation, is fatigue because of staffing issues. Controllers have been asked to work six-day [work]weeks [with] mandatory overtime. Even under the best of circumstances, this is a difficult job,” Curtis explained.

Travellers facing disruption voiced anger about the cancellations.

At Reagan national airport in Arlington, Virginia, Sandy Humes, a passenger, told Al Jazeera that she almost cancelled her trip due to the airline cancellations.

“I don’t even know what’s gonna happen, [but] then I just decided, all right, we’re just gonna go for it and see what happens. But it’s just unexpected. I’m just sick of it. It’s like, what about us?” Humes said.

At the same airport, Vic Seested told Al Jazeera that the lack of information was “disappointing”.

“It means that Valentina, my youngest, my nine-year-old, was looking forward to see[ing] me for our date night, and now I may not see her,” he said.

Which other critical services have been affected by the government shutdown?

As well as flight cancellations, the shutdown could also affect more than 42 million Americans who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), also known as food stamps.

Advertisement

The government had planned to freeze payments altogether for the scheme when its funding ran out at the end of October, but on Monday, a federal judge halted that decision and said the Trump administration must provide the programme with emergency funds, at least partially.

Officials will use $4.65bn from the Department of Agriculture’s contingency fund to support roughly half of SNAP participants’ “current allotments”. Despite this, some families may not receive benefits for several weeks, US media reported this week.

When will services resume?

When the Republican and Democratic members of Congress approve the bill and funding is released for government services.

Tom Davis, a Republican South Carolina state senator, told Al Jazeera that while the Republicans and the Democrats have got into standoffs before, “somebody always blinks”.

“Traditionally, you pass what’s called a clean contingency resolution. You continue last year’s funding levels until the new levels are agreed to. Democrats have done this 12 times under President [Joe] Biden, but they refuse to do it under President Trump. So [that’s] where we are at this point, and Republicans are not going to swallow the spending increase,” he said, referring to the extension of healthcare benefits that Democrats are insisting on.

“But we sit here until somebody blinks,” he added.