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6d ago

FAA Holds Flight Cuts at 6% as House Moves to Reopen Government

Officials expect a gradual recovery, with cuts lifted only after staffing stabilizes alongside normal safety metrics.

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George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, is one of several major airports seeing long lines recently at security checkpoints.
With flight changes and cancellations afoot, in some places “rental cars are getting to be either unavailable or come at a premium,” one travel expert said.
Flights on smaller regional jets are often among the first to be cut.

Overview

  • The FAA is keeping mandatory reductions at roughly 6% across 40 major airports for a second day, with targets still scheduled to rise to 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday unless conditions change.
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said controllers should receive about 70% of their back pay within 24–48 hours of reopening, with the remainder arriving within a week.
  • Flight disruptions eased from the weekend peak but remain significant, with roughly 1,200–1,300 cancellations reported Wednesday and delays in the thousands, led by hubs like New York and Chicago.
  • Airlines and regulators say schedules cannot snap back immediately due to the FAA’s seven‑day advance cancellation requirement and staffing limits, so residual disruptions could last several days.
  • The controller shortfall predates the shutdown by roughly 3,000 positions, and the FAA has also expanded restrictions to limit many business and private flights at a dozen of the affected airports.