Shutdown flight cuts at 40 of the busiest US airports will be phased in

By JOSH FUNK and RIO YAMAT

U.S. airlines prepared to phase in hundreds of flight cuts at the country’s busiest airports starting Friday, including those in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago, due to the government shutdown, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce air traffic at 40 of the busiest airports across the U.S. includes locations across more than two dozen states and is likely to ripple far beyond those targeted places.

With just hours to go, 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.

The affected airports include busy connecting hubs and those in popular tourist destinations, including 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.

Airlines will phase in the cuts at the direction of the FAA, starting with eliminating 4% of flights at the 40 airports on Friday and working up to 10%, according to three people familiar with what the agency said, but who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

United Airlines will cut 4% of its flights over the weekend based on guidance from the FAA, said company spokesperson Josh Freed.

The FAA had not yet published an official order as of midday Thursday and didn’t immediately respond to questions about implementation details.

Some airlines planned to focus on slashing routes to and from small and medium-sized cities.

“This is going to have a noticeable impact across the U.S. air transportation system,” industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said.

The FAA said Wednesday it would reduce air traffic by 10% across “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown.

It 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.

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, 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 also could disrupt package deliveries because two airports with major distribution centers are on the list — FedEx operates at the airport in Memphis, Tennessee, and UPS in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of this week’s deadly cargo plane crash.

The cuts could affect as many as 1,800 flights, or upward of 268,000 passengers, per day, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Airlines are used to dealing with cutting thousands of flights on short notice during severe weather, but the difference now is that these cuts 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.”

Shutdown already straining airlines

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, Bedford said.

“We can’t ignore it,” he said.

Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they would work 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, disrupting travel and damaging confidence in the U.S. air travel experience,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman.

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 a paycheck next week.

Kelly Matthews, who lives in Flat Rock, Michigan and frequently flies for work, said she has canceled most of her upcoming trips and understands why federal airport employees have stopped showing up.

“You can’t expect people to go into work when they’re not getting a paycheck for the continuation of over a month now,” she said. “I mean, it’s not a matter of them not wanting to do the job — but you can’t afford to pay for gas, your daycare and everything else.”

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.

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Associated Press journalists Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.

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