Hundreds of US flights cancelled as regulator orders cuts to air traffic

The Federal Aviation Administration is cutting aerial postulation by 10 percent owed to a shortage of aerial postulation controllers.

Hundreds of flights crossed the US person been cancelled pursuing an bid from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to temporarily chopped aerial postulation by 10 percent astatine the country’s 40 largest airports to support information amid a shortage of aerial postulation controllers owed to the authorities shutdown.

More than 790 flights scheduled for Friday were chopped from hose schedules, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks formation disruptions.

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That number, already 4 times higher than Thursday’s regular full of cancellations, was apt to support climbing, portion astir 500 person been cancelled for Saturday truthful far, according to the website.

The FAA issued its bid connected Thursday successful effect to the increasing fig of absences by aerial postulation controllers amid the record-breaking US authorities shutdown, arsenic Republicans and Democrats stay locked successful a standoff successful Congress implicit authorities to money authorities services.

“Since the opening of the shutdown, controllers person been moving without pay,” the FAA bid said.

“This has resulted successful accrued reports of strain connected the strategy from some pilots and aerial postulation controllers. This past weekend, determination were 2,740 delays astatine assorted airports,” it said.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the determination to cancel flights was a proactive information determination alternatively than a governmental measurement arsenic the shutdown enters its 38th time connected Friday.

“My section has galore responsibilities, but our fig 1 occupation is safety. This isn’t astir authorities – it’s astir assessing the information and alleviating gathering hazard successful the strategy arsenic controllers proceed to enactment without pay,” Duffy said.

“It’s harmless to alert today, and it volition proceed to beryllium harmless to alert adjacent week due to the fact that of the proactive actions we are taking,” helium said.

.@USDOT has galore responsibilities, but our fig 1 occupation is safety.

This isn’t astir authorities – it’s astir assessing the information and alleviating gathering hazard successful the strategy arsenic controllers proceed moving without pay.

It’s harmless to alert today, tomorrow, and the time aft because… pic.twitter.com/YRrq5sdy4T

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 7, 2025

The FAA’s phased-in cuts to aerial postulation implicit the adjacent week volition spot a 4 percent simplification successful aerial postulation connected Friday, and volition extremity with 10 percent by November 14.

The FAA’s bid besides specifies that airlines bash not request to chopped planetary flights, though this determination volition beryllium near up to their discretion.

Impacted airports see Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Chicago O’Hare, and New York’s John F Kennedy planetary airports.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said his section would not hesitate to instrumentality “further action”, suggesting further cuts to flights could beryllium made down the road.

The FAA determination puts renewed unit connected Senate Democrats, who are blocking a authorities spending measure implicit healthcare spending, arsenic the US is preparing for its busiest question days of the twelvemonth astatine the extremity of November.

The FAA employed conscionable implicit 14,000 aerial postulation controllers successful fiscal twelvemonth 2024, according to its website.

They are among the 730,000 “essential” national employees who person been moving without wage for the past 5 weeks, portion different 670,000 person been furloughed, according to the Washington, DC-based Bipartisan Policy Center.