- Last week, the FAA ordered flights to be reduced at 40 of the country's major airports.
- The Salt Lake City International Airport is one of the airports suffering from these disruptions.
- The mandated reductions do not impact international flights.
Following the Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement last week reducing flights at major airports across the U.S., thousands of flights were canceled over the weekend and the cancellations will continue this week.
On Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the air travel cancellations and delays would continue to spread.
“It’s only going to get worse,” Duffy said, according to USA Today. “I look to the two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.”
“We have a number of people who want to get home for the holidays, they want to see their families, they want to celebrate this great American holiday,” Duffy added. “Listen, many of them are not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly unless this thing doesn’t open back up.”
Monday is the fourth day of the federally imposed flight reductions and over 1,700 flights into, out of and within the U.S. have been canceled, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
So far, around 5.5% of flights are impacted after cuts originally began at 4%. These reductions are set to increase to 10% by Nov. 14.
Not all current cancellations are due to the mandated flight cuts, though; some of them have been caused by weather, such as a winter storm that slammed the Chicago area, per USA Today.
Flights continue to be canceled at Salt Lake City airport
Salt Lake City International Airport is on the FAA’s list of 40 airports that will see flight reductions.
On Monday, 20 flights departing from the Salt Lake International Airport were canceled. The airlines with canceled flights out of Salt Lake are: SkyWest Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
There were 19 canceled flights departing out of Salt Lake City on Sunday, all from the same airlines. Also on Sunday, there were 22 flights canceled that were set to arrive at the airport.
According to Nancy Volmer, the airport’s communications director, aside from the delays and cancellations, operations at the airport continue to run smoothly.
How many flights were canceled across the U.S. over the weekend?
The flight cuts began on Friday and continued over the weekend. On Sunday, almost 3,500 flights in the U.S. were canceled, and on Saturday, there were 1,944 cancellations, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
According to USA Today, Sunday also had a large number of delays, with over 60% of flights leaving on time and 30% having delays longer than 30 minutes.
President Donald Trump calls for air traffic controllers to return to work
One reason for the flight cancellations during the shutdown is staffing issues with air traffic controllers. Because they are deemed essential workers, air traffic controllers continue to work during a shutdown, but without pay.
Because of the lack of paycheck, some controllers have not been showing up to work, making it harder to run all the scheduled flights safely.
On Monday morning, President Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social called all air traffic controllers to return to work.
“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially ‘docked,’” Trump wrote.
He added, “For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax,’ I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country.”
He also called out the controllers who missed shifts because they weren’t being paid.
“For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” he wrote. “You didn’t step up to help the U.S.A. against the FAKE DEMOCRAT ATTACK that was only meant to hurt our Country.”
Air Traffic Controllers Union President Nick Daniels responded to Trump’s comments during a press conference, saying that the controllers deserve to be paid and the union will be working through issues with the administration, per ABC News.
“I’ll take anything that recognizes these hard-working men and women, but we’ll work with the administration on any issues that are out there,” Daniels said. “Air traffic controllers have continued to show up during this shutdown. They’ve endured the longest shutdown in American history, and every single day, they absolutely, not only deserve their pay, they deserve to be recognized for what’s going on.”
Daniels added that air traffic controllers should not be used as a political pawn during a government shutdown.
Do the FAA’s flight reductions impact international flights?
The FAA’s mandated flight reductions do not impact international flights, since that would be a violation of international agreements with other countries, per ABC News.
The only flights impacted are domestic flights within the U.S.
How long will the reductions last?
It is hard to say how long these flight cancellations will continue, according to The Associated Press. Even if the shutdown ends soon, the FAA has said it will not lift the flight reductions until staffing at airport towers and air traffic centers returns to levels that make it safe to do so.
Which airports are affected by the reductions?
The FAA has ordered flight reductions at the country’s 30 busiest airports as well as 10 other airports, including those with significant commercial traffic, cargo hubs and airfields popular with private jet operators.
Here’s a look at the full list of 40 U.S. airports that will be impacted by the cuts, per The New York Times:
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- Boston Logan International Airport
- Baltimore-Washington International Airport
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
- Denver International Airport
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
- Newark Liberty International Airport
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
- Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu
- Washington Dulles International Airport
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston
- John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
- Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas
- Los Angeles International Airport
- LaGuardia Airport in New York
- Orlando International Airport
- Chicago Midway Airport
- Memphis International Airport
- Miami International Airport
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport
- Philadelphia International Airport
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
- San Diego International Airport
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
- San Francisco International Airport
- Salt Lake City International Airport
- Tampa International Airport
- Anchorage International Airport
- Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport
- Dallas Love Field
- William P. Hobby Airport in Houston
- Indianapolis International Airport
- Louisville International Airport
- Oakland International Airport
- Ontario International Airport in California
- Portland International Airport
- Teterboro Airport in New Jersey