The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is now over, but it will take several days and possibly even a week for the nation’s air travel system to return to normal.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement Wednesday that the FAA will freeze its mandatory air traffic reductions at 40 major airports at 6% indefinitely. The cuts were set to increase to 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday before the government reopened.
The reductions were put in place last week to ease the burden on air traffic controllers, who have not received a full paycheck since Oct. 1. It was not immediately clear when controllers will get their next paychecks or owed backpay, but Duffy noted that many who had called out sick are already returning to work.
“The FAA safety team is encouraged to see our air traffic control staffing surge, and they feel comfortable with pausing the reduction schedule to give us time to review the airspace,” the secretary said. “The data is going to guide what we do because the safety of the American people comes first. If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations.”
Speaking at a press conference, Airlines For America President and CEO Chris Sununu said it could take up to a week for delays and cancellations to drop to normal levels. Still, he was confident that significant disruptions will not linger into the Thanksgiving travel period.
“I don’t think any flights over the Thanksgiving week have actually been canceled yet,” Sununu said, according to ABC News. “I think the airlines have been pretty tight working with the FAA looking a few days out to be sure. We’re still a good week-plus away from that Thanksgiving week. There’s still plenty of time to make sure that everything over the Thanksgiving week goes off as originally planned.”
Airlines, for the most part predicted a return to business as usual within a matter of days.
In a statement, American said it is “well positioned” to restore canceled flights because of “operation decisions to minimize disruptions.”
“Our approach was to limit inconvenience for our customers,” the carrier said. “We took unprecedented actions to provide flexibility for customers, and we are grateful for their loyalty and patience throughout a challenging period.”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CBS Mornings that air travel complications could be resolved in as few as three to four days.
“The system should return to normal by the weekend… and normal for us is an incredibly safe, incredibly reliable, great experience,” he said. “Thanksgiving is going to be a great holiday period of travel.”
Southwest COO Andrew Watterson said Wednesday that there were already signs of stabilization.
“The good news is – and I want to emphasize this – as of yesterday, we’re seeing real progress, and air travel appears to be returning to normal,” he said in a news release. “Our operation remains strong, and customers can continue to count on Southwest.”
About 1,000 flights into, out of, and within the U.S. had been canceled as of midday Thursday, according to data from tracking website Flight Aware. Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, and Newark, New Jersey – all subject to the FAA’s reduction order – saw the highest number of cancellations.
With the shutdown over, federal departments and agencies will return to normal operations. At agencies dealing with air transport, including the FAA, TSA, NTSB, a large number of employees were deemed essential and continued coming into work despite the lack of pay.
