By JOSH FUNK and RIO YAMAT
US airlines and travellers have slogged through a second day of flight cuts across the country as the government shutdown is expected to drive more cancellations in the days to come.
The Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut four per cent of flights on Saturday at 40 major airports because of the shutdown. The cuts will rise to six per cent on Tuesday and then to 10 per cent by November 14.
The cuts, which began early on Friday, include about 700 flights from the four largest carriers – American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.
Airlines will cut fewer flights on Saturday than Friday because of lower overall volume. United will cut 168 flights, down from 184 Friday, while Southwest will cancel just under 100 flights, down from 120.
During the record 39-day government shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay, leading to increased absenteeism. Many air traffic controllers were notified on Thursday that they would receive no compensation for a second pay period next week.
The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Congressional Democrats to agree to a Republican plan to fund the federal government, which would allow it to reopen.
Raising the spectre of dramatic air-travel disruptions is one such effort. Democrats contend Republicans are to blame for the shutdown because they refuse to negotiate over extending health insurance subsidies.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was possible that he could require 20 per cent cuts in air traffic if things get worse and more controllers do not show up for work.
“I assess the data,” Duffy said. “We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the airspace.”
Separate from the cancellations, absences of air traffic controllers on Friday forced the FAA to delay hundreds of flights at 10 airports including Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Newark. More than 5,600 flights were delayed Friday.
Karen Soika from Greenwich, Connecticut, found out Friday morning that her flight out of Newark, New Jersey, was rebooked for an hour earlier.
But she later learned her plane was actually leaving from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, instead, at least an hour away.
“I’m a surgeon, I’m used to chaos,” she said.
Airlines hurried to adjust their schedules and began cancelling flights on Thursday, while travellers waited nervously to learn if their flights would take off as scheduled.
“We are operating today over 6000 flights,” David Seymour, chief operating officer for American Airlines, told ABC.
“Now we’ve had to cancel as part of this directive 220 flights today and that will be the same number through the weekend, until we start ramping up. We have been working tirelessly throughout, around the clock, to ensure that we’re minimising the disruption to our customers.”
Delta Air Lines said it would scratch roughly 170 flights on Friday, while American planned to cut 220 each day through Monday.
Airlines directed passengers with plans into the weekend to check apps to learn their flight status.
Some passengers quickly searched for alternatives.
Hertz reported a sharp increase in one-way car rentals.
Many of the routes slashed on Friday were shuttle flights in the Northeast and Florida, along with those between Dallas and smaller cities, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Authorities say the reductions are starting at four per cent of flights at the busiest airports and will ramp up to 10 per cent a week from Friday.
They will impact all commercial airlines.
Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst for Raymond James, said right now is a slower season for travel, so that means the airlines should be better able to rebook passengers on other flights.
The biggest airlines expect there will be limited disruptions this weekend and stressed that international flights are not expected to be affected.
But the upheaval will intensify in the coming days and could become chaotic if the slowdown extends into the Thanksgiving holiday, just weeks from now.
Even after the slowdown ends, it will take days to return to normal.
The agency said the cuts are necessary to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for more than a month.
Many are pulling six-day work weeks with mandatory overtime, and increasing numbers of them have begun calling out as the financial strain and exhaustion mount.
The order comes as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.
Ending the shutdown would ease the situation for controllers, but the FAA said the flight cuts will remain in place until their safety data improves.