As of early Friday morning, the United States Air Authority (FAA) has ordered the cancellation of 851 flights at 40 major airports in the United States. Additionally, 1,686 people were delayed, bringing the total number of people affected to more than 2,500. The air traffic restrictions announced earlier this week attempt to address the saturation of the country’s aviation system caused by the government shutdown, which has now reached 38 days. The reason for this blockade, which is already the longest in US history, is the inability of Republicans and Democrats to agree on the budget extension.
Aviation analytics firm FlightAware estimates that 851 of the nearly 25,000 flights scheduled for this Friday in the United States were canceled this Friday. On a typical Friday, around 200 flights are canceled in the country. When there are adverse weather conditions, cancellations multiply. In total, more than 100,000 travelers were affected. The main airports affected are Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Denver, according to statistics compiled by FlightAware.
The administrative block means that dozens of federal agencies are closed or with little activity due to lack of funds. The nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers and thousands of airport security workers have not been paid since October 1st due to this situation. Many have decided to take sick leave to look for another source of income with which to pay the mortgage, the car loan, the children’s school or, simply, to be able to bring food home, as recognized a few days ago by the Minister of Transport, Sean Duffy.
The restrictions caused by the federal shutdown don’t just affect airports. Around 42 million people who depend on public aid for food are affected by the cut in public funding.
The restriction of air traffic increases pressure on Republicans and Democrats to end the government shutdown. The leaders of the main parties try to negotiate this Friday in the Capitol, but the positions remain distant. Republicans are starting to get desperate, but they continue to refuse to allocate more money to pay for health insurance, as Democrats are demanding.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on his party to end the government shutdown. Polls show signs of wear and tear on the occupant of the White House. Citizens blame him for the lack of agreement and funding cuts in dozens of state agencies. Tens of thousands of public employees have not received their salaries for more than a month.
The electoral defeat suffered last Tuesday also goes against him. Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the office of mayor of New York. His party also won races to govern Virginia and New Jersey. The victory encouraged Democrats to maintain their position in the Senate.
Airlines tried to get ahead of the situation by canceling many flights on Thursday. The situation at the affected airports is not far from that of a normal day. Although there are some travelers who are outraged because they just learned about the cancellation of their flights. Airlines have assured that most of their customers will not be affected. Anyone wishing to change their flight or cancel it will be entitled to a full refund of the ticket. International flights are not affected.
The country’s largest airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta, are the hardest hit by cancellations, with 221, 184 and 173 flights cancelled, respectively, according to air traffic data analytics platform Cirium. SkyWest, the largest regional airline in the United States, suffered 172 cancellations, 6% of its total flights, according to CNN.
Plane cancellations began this Friday at 6 a.m. Eastern time and will last until midnight. The authorities explained that this Friday 4% of all scheduled flights will be affected. Over the next week cancellations will gradually increase until reaching 10% next week.
“This decision is not a political issue, but rather a decision to evaluate the data and mitigate the risk posed to the system by controllers continuing to work without pay,” America’s transportation chief said Thursday.
Duffy justified the air traffic restrictions with the need to ensure safety. “We have to take unprecedented measures because we are in an unprecedented situation with the government shutdown.” Duffy guaranteed that there is currently no risk to aviation safety, but justified the flight restrictions to ensure that air traffic is not compromised.
Negotiations in the Senate
Trump has asked his people to eliminate the Senate rule that allows legislation to be delayed until a minimum of 60 votes are obtained. Although Republicans have a majority in the House with 54 seats, it is not enough to pass the extension bill and they need support from Democrats.
“Republicans, end the filibuster and reclaim the American dream. If you don’t do it, the Democrats will, and you will never hold public office again!” Donald Trump wrote this Friday on his social network Truth.
Some House Republican leaders are reluctant to Trump’s idea of ending the parliamentary filibuster, as the 60-vote rule is known, because they believe that when Democrats have a majority they can pass as many rules as they want without oversight. They are looking to the mid-term elections, which will be held next year, and in which part of the Senate will be renewed. Then the Republicans could lose their majority and Trump could see his power reduced.
