<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/passengers-face-global-disruption-as-flights-cut-amid-us-government-shutdown>
"A US government order to make drastic cuts in commercial air traffic amid the
government shutdown has taken effect, with major airports across the country
experiencing a significant reduction in schedules and leaving travellers
scrambling to adjust their plans.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said the move is necessary to
maintain air traffic control safety during a federal government shutdown, now
the longest recorded and with no sign of a resolution, in which air traffic
controllers have gone without pay.
While airlines have started to reduce domestic flights, global hubs such as JFK
in New York and LAX in Los Angeles will be affected, meaning delays and sudden
changes that could have a cascading effect on international air traffic. The
FAA said the reductions would start at 4% and ramp up to 10% by 14 November.
The reductions are set to be in effect between 6am and 10pm and impact all
commercial airlines.
“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing
the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,”
said Bryan Bedford, the FAA administrator.
As of Friday morning, more than 800 US-linked flights had been cancelled,
according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. The data showed about
four in five cancelations globally were related to the US.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy warned on Friday that cancellations could
rise to 15% or 20%. “If the shutdown doesn’t end relatively soon, the
consequence is that more controllers don’t come to work,” he told
Fox News,
as US airspace became a potent proverbial weapon in the political standoff."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
