Will air traffic be ‘normal’ now that the government shutdown is over? Not quite yet…
The longest government shutdown is officially over. But the hassle it created for air travelers is not.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) didn’t end the current flight reductions, which were set to go to 8% on Thursday and to 10% on Friday.
Instead, there’s a new emergency order freezing the mandated flight reductions at the current 6% level while the FAA figures out what’s next.
“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,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy.
The 40 affected airports where flight reductions have been mandated remains the same (see below). But cancellations and delays continue to ripple through the entire system.
Early Thursday morning (1 am EST) Flightaware.com was reporting close to 1000 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S. and about 400 delays for the day.
And getting back to normal won’t be all that easy. Or smooth. Even when the flights reductions are completely lifted.
“Airlines cannot flip a switch and resume normal operations immediately after a vote,” aviation industry group, Airlines for America, noted in a statement shortly before the government shutdown votes were completed, “There will be residual effects for days.”
“High impact” airports with mandated flight reductions
ANC – Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
ATL – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
BOS – Boston Logan International Airport
BWI – Baltimore/Washington International Airport
CLT – Charlotte Douglas International Airport
CVG – Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
DAL – Dallas Love Field
DCA – Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
DEN – Denver International Airport
DFW – Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
DTW – Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
EWR – Newark Liberty International Airport
FLL – Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport
HNL – Honolulu International Airport
HOU – William P. Hobby Airport
IAD – Washington Dulles International Airport
IAH – George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport
IND – Indianapolis International Airport
JFK – New York John F. Kennedy International Airport
LAS – Las Vegas McCarran International Airport
LAX – Los Angeles International Airport
LGA – New York LaGuardia Airport
MCO – Orlando International Airport
MDW – Chicago Midway International Airport
MEM – Memphis International Airport
MIA – Miami International Airport
MSP – Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport
OAK – Oakland International Airport
ONT – Ontario International Airport
ORD – Chicago O’Hare International Airport
PDX – Portland International Airport
PHL – Philadelphia International Airport
PHX – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
SAN – San Diego International Airport
SDF – Louisville International Airport
SEA – Seattle–Tacoma International Airport
SFO – San Francisco International Airport
SLC – Salt Lake City International Airport
TEB – Teterboro Airport
TPA – Tampa International Airport
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