Toronto/CMEDIA: With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s mandate reportedly to reduce air traffic, the US government shutdown is showing no signs of easing causing US airlines to cancel over 2,500 weekend flights by Saturday.
Although the slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports did not cause immediate widespread disruptions, it deepened the impact felt by the nation’s longest federal shutdown.
Intensification and spreading of the upheaval far beyond air travel, analysts warned, if cancellations keep growing and reach into Thanksgiving week.
How many flights have been cancelled?
Cancellations jumped Saturday to more than 1,500, following just over 1,000 the previous day, according to the tracking website FlightAware and by the evening another 1,000-plus U.S. airlines were already cancelled for Sunday.
Numerous disruptions throughout the day were experienced by the airports in Atlanta and Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina, Newark, and New Jersey.
Added to the cancellations and delays at several East Coast airports, including those around New York City were ongoing staffing shortages in radar centers and control towers.
Although all the cancellations were not due to the FAA order, those numbers represented just a small portion of the overall flights nationwide.
Subject to the continuation of the slowdown, cancellations are certain to rise in the coming days.
Reductions impacting all commercial airlines started at 4% of flights at 40 targeted airports, the FAA said, and will be bumped up again Tuesday before hitting 10% on Friday.
Even more cuts might be needed if the shutdown continues and more air traffic controllers are off the job this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned.
Why are the flights being cancelled?
Controllers have not been paid for nearly a month during the shutdown, leading many to call in sick and escalated previously existing staffing shortages.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has said that most are working mandatory overtime six days a week without pay, and some are taking second jobs to pay their bills.
The union said it had delivered on Sat 1,600 handwritten letters from members to Congress calling for the shutdown to end.
How are passengers being affected?
Most of the passengers were unaffected and relieved to find that airlines largely stayed on schedule Friday, and those whose flights were called off were able to quickly rebook. So far, longer international flights have not been interrupted.
A lot of uncertainty still prevails about which flights will be cancelled next.
Rental car companies reported a sharp increase in one-way reservations Friday, and some people simply cancelled flights altogether.
What could be the impacts beyond air travel?
Nearly half of U.S. air freight is shipped in the bellies of passenger aircraft causing potential for higher prices in stores.
Major flight disruptions could cause higher shipping costs get passed on to consumers, said Patrick Penfield, professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University.
Subject to the continuation of the slowdown, further losses will ripple through the economy from tourism to manufacturing, said Greg Raiff, CEO of Elevate Aviation Group.
“This shutdown is going to impact everything from cargo aircraft to people getting to business meetings to tourists being able to travel,” Raiff said. “It’s going to hit the hotel taxes and city taxes. There’s a cascading effect that results from this thing.”
