FAA Orders Flight Cuts at 40 Major US Airports as Shutdown Bites

If you are flying inside the United States this weekend, check your flight before you leave home. The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to cut flights at 40 of the country’s busiest airports, and the first cuts landed on Friday.

The reduction starts at 4% of domestic flights and rises over the coming days: 6% by 11 November, 8% by 13 November, and 10% by 14 November, if the federal government shutdown continues. The cuts apply between 6 am and 10 pm. The order does not apply to international flights.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford announced the move on Wednesday, calling it a safety measure. Air traffic controllers have now worked without pay for weeks, and the FAA says staffing pressure in control towers has reached the point where flying the full schedule is no longer the safe option. Around 13,000 controllers and 50,000 TSA security officers are currently working without a pay cheque.

Friday gave a taste of what is coming. More than 1,000 flights were cancelled across the country and over 4,300 were delayed, according to FlightAware counts reported during the day. SkyWest cancelled the most flights of any single airline. The airport list includes Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and the airports serving New York, Chicago, Washington, Houston, Miami, San Francisco and Orlando. Analysts at Cirium estimate that at the full 10% level, the order could remove up to 1,800 flights and 268,000 seats a day.

It is the airlines, not the FAA, that choose which flights go. Each carrier picks the routes it can thin out with the least damage, and the FAA can fine an airline $75,000 for every flight it operates above its limit.

Security queues are the second headache. Philadelphia International has temporarily closed three of its six TSA checkpoints to concentrate staff, and passengers at some airports, including Houston and Atlanta, have faced waits measured in hours on the worst days. Atlanta is advising travellers to arrive three hours before departure.

What to do if you are flying

• Check your flight status in your airline’s app before leaving, and again before heading to the airport.
• If your flight is cancelled because of this order, you are entitled to a refund if you choose not to travel. The airline should offer rebooking first.
• Arrive early: three hours for domestic departures from the big hubs is the current advice.
• If you can move your trip by a day or two, earlier flights in the day tend to survive cuts better than the last departures.

This is a fast-moving story. StrikeWatch will update this article as the percentages change or the shutdown ends.

Sources: FAA and US Department of Transportation statements; FlightAware daily counts; Reuters reporting via US outlets, 6–7 November 2026.