Travelers faced increased uncertainty this fall with flight cancellations and staffing shortages due to the US government shutdown. Many are concerned about their Thanksgiving flights even after the shutdown – the longest in US history – ended on Wednesday, November 12, with President Donald Trump signing a bill to reopen the government.
Will flights normalize by Thanksgiving?
According to travel insiders and analysts, it could take as long as a week for airlines to recover from the disruptions, CNN reported. Several air traffic controllers not getting paid during the shutdown stopped showing up for work. Staffing shortages led to a Federal Aviation Administration emergency order to reduce flights incrementally up to 10%.
However, more air traffic controllers are showing up at work now. The Department of Transportation said Wednesday night that the FAA-mandated cuts to flights at 40 major airports will be frozen at 6%, and will remain at this level until the FAA thinks it is safe to resume more flights.
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday, November 11, that flights could normalize by Thanksgiving.
{{/usCountry}}Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday, November 11, that flights could normalize by Thanksgiving.
{{/usCountry}}“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,” Duffy said in a statement. “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.”
Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, told CNBC that airlines will be “OK” for Thanksgiving. “Thanksgiving will be fine,” he said on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Chris Sununu, president and CEO of the commercial airline industry trade group Airlines for America, said in a statement, “We are preparing for record Thanksgiving travel, with some 31 million passengers expected, and the busy shipping season is coming up. However, airlines cannot flip a switch and resume normal operations immediately after a vote — there will be residual effects for days.”
Katy Nastro, a travel expert with Going.com, said high levels of disruptions will possibly not continue into the holiday week if the government reopens. However, the air traffic controller staffing shortages that led to flight cuts could be a factor even after schedules are restored. “If we are still down a certain number of controllers … we may see disruptions into Thanksgiving, yet likely not to this extent,” Nastro said.