Flight cancellations hit major airports on first day of FAA reductions

MSN.com ^ | 2025/11/07 1:16 a.m. ESTtoday at | Lori Aratani, Ian Duncan

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Airlines have canceled more than 1,000 flights to comply with a shutdown-related FAA directive to reduce traffic at 40 airports, including Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights Friday — the highest number since the government shutdown began — as they scrambled to comply with a Trump administration order to reduce air traffic amid growing concerns about potential staffing shortages.

The administration announced Wednesday that it would direct U.S. carriers to trim their schedules by 10 percent at 40 U.S. airports — including major hubs in Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Dallas.

“This isn’t about politics — it’s about assessing the data and alleviating building risk in the system as controllers continue to work without pay,” Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a statement Thursday as officials released more details about how the cuts would be implemented. “It’s safe to fly today, and it will continue to be safe to fly next week because of the proactive actions we are taking.”

According to the emergency order released Thursday evening, the cutbacks will be phased, with the number of flights expected to drop 4 percent on Friday. The plan is to reach 6 percent by Tuesday; 8 percent by Thursday; and 10 percent by Nov. 14.

The move, which comes just weeks before the busy Thanksgiving travel season, is already having an impact. According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware, by Friday morning, airlines had canceled more than 800 flights within, into and out of the United States scheduled for Friday and almost 500 for Saturday — up from 201 for the whole of Thursday.

American Airlines said Friday it was able to reaccommodate the majority of the 12,000 customers who had their flights canceled as a result of the FAA’s order...

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: flying; nevertrumpkywrdtroll; travel; trumpshutdown

[dfwgator]

You can bet the DNC is orchestrating this.

Like Schumer said, ‘Six ways to Sunday.....’

[Tell It Right]

Dims until recently: We need to ban flying to save the planet!!!!!

Dims now: Orange Man Bad! He's messing up air travel!!!

[cowboyusa]

Yes, but I think that swing Syaye indies are mad at the Dems.

[cowboyusa]

And would support ending the filibuster

[rktman]

Pretty sure there were lots of delays yesterday as well. Thanksgiving should be interesting. Those with Trumpinosis may suffer heavily. Us? Not concerned. We were cut off last year due to severe Trumpinosis so no family pressure now. Kind of a relief actually. So, we have dinner reservations now. 🍗

[NEMDF]

I flew out of Atlanta yesterday about 1 p.m. EVERYTHING at the airport seemed to be running very smoothly. No issues with my flight, lines moved quickly, employees were friendly and helpful.

[Verginius Rufus]

It will keep getting worse as long as the Democrats think they can get a majority of the public to put the blame on the Republicans or on President Trump.

[rktman]

Nice!

[Kid Shelleen]

They are trying to tank the economy and by election time the libtards will blame it on the GOP/Trump.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

There must be some way to fund the Air traffic guys by cutting something doesn’t impact public safety.

[Vigilanteman]

My thoughts exactly. Every airline tickets (including those earned by frequent fliers) has a tax added to pay for this type of thing. Sequester it in a specialized fund to keep flights on schedule with a shutdown or no shutdown.

Air traffic controllers need specialized training. TSA? Not so much. Allow airports to hire private security to meet these needs from the tax funds available.

[crz]

There is.
On each flight simply ask for compliment tips, about a dollar or two, to tip the controllers and kerp them in cash to survive this mess if they continue service.

The cabin crew could make sure those tips get to the appropriate people to distribute them.

If you have 150 people on each flight, a dollar each would do the trick. How many flights? 100? Each day into each airport?

Tell me that each passenger cant afford a dollar..

One dollar each.

[Capn Hayek]

This is what grinds my gears...

There’s a LOT of leeway for funds shifting and court cases take time.

I say it grinds my gears because I’m currently trying to get a rebooked flight and it’s proving very hard to do :-)

Ordinarily, I’d be Br’er Rabbit and say “Oh no, don’t keep the government shut down!”... but yeah, flights are being throttled big time because ATCs are using PTO because they’re not getting paid.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

employees were friendly and helpful

____________________

Are you sure that was Atlanta? 😆

[Blood of Tyrants]

Privatize the ATCs. They are dealing with obsolete computers and radar and flight tracking systems. They keep track of aircraft by physically moving strips of paper around.

[mikey_hates_everything]

With no government employees able to fly to their taxpayer-paid boondoggles during the shutdown, maybe it won’t be that bad.

[Capn Hayek]

Privatize meaning who and how?

I’m open to the idea and I just fly a lot, I am no aviation expert.

I do know there are regional layers - and they HAVE to work together to transition traffic. I also know it gets REALLY complicated within those layers - JFK vs LGA vs EWR, etc.

So far as I understand the way flight paths, slot times, etc works? I’m all for privatizing *anything and everything* but I really don’t see a good path to privatizing US airspace.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I *am* an AI believer! I do think that’s a potential path.... but - and I’m biting my tongue by saying this - it’s probably a federal function.