Overview
- The government funding lapse has become the longest U.S. shutdown on record, entering the mid‑to‑late 30s in days with no Senate deal to clear the 60‑vote threshold.
- Flight capacity will be trimmed about 4% Friday, 5% Saturday and 6% Sunday, rising toward roughly 10% next week, with airlines coordinating targeted schedule cuts.
- Officials say roughly 13,000 air‑traffic controllers have been working without pay since October 1, facilities report severe understaffing including up to about 80% absenteeism in the New York area, and the system is short around 2,000 controllers.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that parts of U.S. airspace could be closed—and, if safety warrants it, even the entire airspace—should staffing conditions make normal operations unsafe.
- Airlines and data providers caution that thousands of flights per day could be canceled if reductions persist, more than 3.2 million passengers have already been disrupted, SNAP benefits for about 42 million people have been interrupted with partial November funding, and the CBO pegs a week of continued shutdown at roughly $11 billion in economic costs.