Overview
- By early Tuesday, roughly 1,100–1,200 U.S. flights were canceled and hundreds more delayed after the FAA moved from a 4% to a 6% reduction in scheduled flights at 40 high-traffic airports.
- The FAA plans to lift the cut targets to 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday, and it expanded restrictions to bar many business and private jets at a dozen of the affected airports.
- The Senate passed a bill to reopen the government, but the FAA and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy say caps will not ease until staffing and safety indicators improve, with recovery expected to take days to weeks.
- Airlines reported large-scale schedule changes—Delta and others canceled hundreds of flights and issued waivers or refunds—while a Chicago snowstorm compounded delays at O’Hare and other hubs.
- Controllers missed a second paycheck, with unions warning of fatigue, callouts and accelerated retirements; officials cited rising safety signals including loss-of-separation events and runway incursions, as President Trump publicly pressured controllers to return to work.