NEW YORK — The challenges facing travelers at the nation’s airports are expected to worsen this week if the U.S. Congress fails to reach an agreement to reopen the federal government.
U.S. airlines canceled more than 1,500 flights on Saturday and more than 2,900 on Sunday to comply with an FAA order to reduce traffic as some air traffic controllers, unpaid for nearly a month, stopped showing up for work.
As of Monday morning, airlines had already canceled nearly 1,600 flights for Monday and nearly 1,000 for Tuesday.
The Senate took the first step toward ending the shutdown on Sunday, but final passage could still be several days away and experts have said it will take time for flights to return to normal, even after the government reopens.
Many airports are also facing significant delays for flights that have not been canceled, with airports in Newark, Orlando, Chicago and Detroit all facing departure delays of more than an hour and increasing, according to FlightAware.
This is the second pay period in which air traffic controllers have not received any compensation for their work. The head of the air traffic controllers’ union, Nick Daniels, will hold a press conference on Monday morning to address the impact of the closure on them.
Delays and cancellations are likely to get worse as airlines are increasingly unable to reposition planes, pilots and flight attendants due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
The FAA implemented a mandatory 4% reduction in flights this weekend to manage personnel. This will increase to 6% on Tuesday and 10% off by next weekend. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on “Fox News Sunday” that additional flight reductions of up to 20% may be necessary.
“More and more controllers don’t come to work day after day, the further they go without pay,” Duffy said.
The government has had a shortage of air traffic controllers for years, and several presidential administrations have tried to persuade controllers who have reached retirement age to stay on. Duffy said the shutdown has exacerbated the problem, leading some air traffic controllers to accelerate their retirement.
While 4% may seem modest, much of this reduction is occurring at 40 of the nation’s busiest and most congested airports. The FAA says the reduction in flights is necessary to keep travelers safe because many of the remaining controllers have put in long hours and mandatory overtime while the government still has no funding.
If nothing is done quickly, the situation could get worse as the United States heads into the busy holiday travel period. Duffy said air travel could “be reduced to a trickle” by Thanksgiving week.
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Ken Sweet, Associated Press
Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writer Rio Yamat contributed from Las Vegas.
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