In just three weeks, millions of Americans will fly to be with friends and family to glut themselves silly with turkey, mashed potatoes, casserole, gravy, and pie… if they can get there.
On Wednesday, Federal Aviation Agency Administrator Bryan Bedford announced at a news conference that the FAA will cut air traffic by 10% in 40 of the country’s “high-volume markets” as soon as Friday morning, as a consequence of the ongoing government shutdown—officially the longest government shutdown as of Wednesday. According to estimates by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, up to 1,800 flights will be affected per day.
Bedford said that he and Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, were taking the cuts as a proactive measure. “We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating,” he said.
A day before the announcement, Duffy warned of “mass chaos” in the skies if air traffic controllers missed another payment on Tuesday, November 11. (Since the shutdown began on October 1, air traffic controllers—along with TSA agents who’ve been subject to an on-loop video of Kristi Noem blaming Dems for the shutdown—have been working unpaid.)
Tuesday also marked a milestone for Donald Trump, as he officially took the title for Leader of Longest Federal Shutdown from… himself! (In 2018, during his first term, the government shut down for 35 days because Trump wouldn’t pass a budget unless it included funds for his border wall.) This shutdown continues because Republicans refuse to re-up access to affordable health insurance for millions of Americans.
On Wednesday, the Senate failed for the 14th time to pass a resolution, in a 54-44 vote. (For the shutdown to end, the chamber will need to hit a 60-vote threshold.) But speaking to reporters, Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he was optimistic the shutdown would end this week. “I think there are people who realize this has gone on long enough, there’s been enough pain inflicted on the American people, and it’s time to end it.”
If not, though, we could see travel time decline as early as Friday. While the affected airports have not yet been announced, a leaked list includes hubs in New York City, Atlanta, and Dallas—three of the busiest hot spots during last Thanksgiving, according to OAG, another aviation analytics firm. As such, airlines have been advising their travelers to plan accordingly.
BREAKING: The FAA will require airlines to begin cutting flights from these 40
airports starting as early as tomorrow. Airlines will starts cutting 4% of flights per day until they reach 10% per day early next week. pic.twitter.com/0CujA6J5hm
“If you are flying Friday or in the next ten days and need to be there or don’t want to be stranded I highly recommend booking a backup ticket on another carrier,” the CEO of Frontier Airlines posted on Instagram. “Don’t book a basic ticket. For example, book Economy on Frontier.” (I mean, thanks, but a “backup ticket”?! In this economy?!)
Delta and United are also letting passengers change their tickets without fees, and according to Business Insider, the latter’s CEO told staff that long-haul international flights would not be affected.
Pew Research estimates around 9 in 10 Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, and 74% plan to feast with friends and family this year. Thanksgiving is famously the busiest season of air travel, and in 2024, the Sunday after the holiday set a record with nearly 3.09 million passengers screened by the TSA. Maybe everyone’s better off staying home and getting takeout this year. This shutdown doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
