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Starting on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration will cancel around 10 percent of flights at 40 major airports due to the government shutdown that just became the longest in history.
The airports were previously unspecified, but there is now a preliminary list that is subject to change, according to The Hill. The full list will be confirmed later today by the FAA.
Here’s the reported preliminary list:
Flight cancellations at each of these airports are intended to ease the burden of the shutdown on air travel safety personnel, specifically air traffic controllers.
Air traffic controllers are key to safe air travel, but they are currently working demanding hours with no pay. According to the labor union National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), air traffic controllers are working mandatory overtime, clocking in for 10 hours a day, six days a week. On top of that, in the absence of their paycheck, many resort to additional work to make up for the loss. It’s caused many air traffic controllers and other federal workers, like TSA agents, to call in sick or take a second job, putting even more pressure on an already stressed system.
“A system under stress must be slowed down,” Delta Air Lines wrote in a statement to Congress calling for the end of the shutdown.
Flights in and out of the U.S. are already facing massive delays, and transportation secretary Sean Duffy warned of more “mass chaos” at a press conference earlier this week.
It’s currently unclear exactly which flights will be impacted, but it’s without a doubt supposed to be a transportation catastrophe for some travelers, as the cancellations are likely to have a ripple effect. The Associated Press reported that as many as 1,800 flights and upward of 268,000 seats could be affected.
The cancellation decisions, according to Duffy, will be based on relieving the pressure on air traffic controllers to avoid any disastrous mistakes.
United Airlines said in a statement on Wednesday that it will make rolling updates to its flight schedule and give customers several days of advance notice for any cancellations. United will be focusing all of its cancellations on domestic flights, with no long-haul international or hub-to-hub flights to be impacted by the reductions. United’s hubs are Chicago, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.
“We expect the vast majority of customers’ travel will proceed as planned, and we will proactively reach out to customers who are impacted as schedule changes are made,” American Airlines said in an X post on Wednesday.
Any customers on flights that are on the chopping block are eligible for a refund, United said, even if their flight isn’t cancelled.
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Source: Gizmodo