Air Travel Chaos: US Flight Cancellations Worsen Even After Shutdown Ends
London-UK, November 12, 2025
US Flight Cancellations and Delays to Get Worse Even If Shutdown Ends
Air travellers across the United States should prepare for a worsening situation of flight cancellations and delays this week, despite legislative efforts to end the current federal government shutdown.
The prolonged impasse, which has left essential air traffic controllers unpaid for over a month, has triggered a severe staffing crisis within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), prompting the agency to mandate deep and escalating cuts to commercial traffic at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports.
Experts and the airline industry warn that even a swift resolution to the shutdown will not instantly fix the problem, as the cascading logistical failures—including mispositioned aircraft, timed-out crews, and a system-wide lack of stability—will continue to cause major disruptions for days or even weeks after funding is restored.
Key Headlines
Mandatory Cuts Escalate:
The FAA’s directive, which initially mandated a 4% cut to flights at 40 major airports, is set to increase to 6% and will reach a peak of 10% by the end of the week to compensate for controller shortages.
Controller Crisis:
The core issue is the FAA’s air traffic control staffing, with many essential controllers calling out of work due to the stress of mandatory overtime without pay, or seeking second jobs.
Recovery Lag:
Airlines for America (A4A) warned that even when the FAA lifts the order, it will take significant time for carriers to reposition planes, pilots, and crew back to their correct locations to resume normal schedules.
Safety Concerns:
The mandated flight reductions are a direct response to deteriorating safety metrics, including an increase in runway incursions and reports of planes flying too close together due to controller fatigue.
The aviation sector’s crisis is a direct consequence of the longest-ever US federal government shutdown.
While air traffic controllers are classified as essential personnel and must continue working, they have not received paychecks for over a month.
This financial and emotional pressure has led to an alarming rise in absences, with controllers citing stress, fatigue, and the necessity of finding alternative income as reasons for calling out of work.
This widespread staff shortage has put an immense strain on the remaining controllers, forcing them into mandatory overtime, which further compounds fatigue and erodes safety margins.
In response to these critical safety concerns, including reports of increased runway incursions and complaints from pilots regarding control centre communications, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken the drastic step of forcing airlines to slash their flight schedules.
The FAA’s mandatory reduction order, which began at 4% for flights at the 40 most congested airports, is a necessary measure to maintain safe distances between aircraft when fewer controllers are available.
However, this safety measure is simultaneously devastating airline operations and passenger travel.
The major complication now facing the US air travel network is the compounding ripple effect of these cancellations.
Each canceled flight means the aircraft, the pilots, and the cabin crew are not where they are supposed to be for their next scheduled duty. Aviation analysts refer to this as the “mispositioning” of assets.
A plane scheduled to fly from New York to Chicago, for example, might be canceled, meaning it is stuck in New York when it should have been available for an afternoon flight from Chicago to Dallas.
This single cancellation can lead to three or four subsequent cancellations or delays as the entire system falls out of sync.
Furthermore, the delays and long hours often cause flight crews to hit their legally mandated limits for working time (known as “timing out”), creating further staffing shortages that cannot be quickly resolved, even if the government reopens.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made it clear that the flight cuts will remain in place until the FAA sees staffing levels stabilise and safety metrics improve, regardless of a legislative resolution.
The sheer complexity of re-establishing a normal operational cadence—which involves tracking down all mispositioned planes, re-scheduling thousands of pilots and flight attendants, and ensuring air traffic control facilities are fully and safely staffed—means that a full return to normalcy will be a slow, painstaking process.
With the Thanksgiving holiday travel rush rapidly approaching, the persistence of these disruptions poses a serious threat to the US economy and to millions of travel plans, transforming the end of the shutdown into only the start of the aviation system’s recovery period.
