US flight cancellations begin after FAA shutdown order

U.S. airlines began canceling hundreds of flights Friday, hours after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the reductions amid the more than month-long government shutdown.

The cuts were ordered as air traffic controllers have not received their salaries due to the government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history. A shortage of air traffic control personnel has disrupted flights at several major U.S. airports, upsetting travelers and airline executives.

A shortage of air traffic controllers delayed flights at several major U.S. airports on Friday, including Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, San Francisco International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Sudden flight cancellations this week have airlines scrambling to adjust schedules and ensure crews are where they need to be despite last-minute changes.

More than 700 U.S. flights were canceled as of 9 a.m. ET Friday, according to aviation data firm Cirium, or about 3% of the day’s total schedule. This scale of disruption is fairly common for routine disruptions like major thunderstorms, but the Department of Transportation has warned that cancellations could become more severe.

According to the FAA order, flight reductions will increase to 10% over the next week, starting with 4% on Friday, 6% on Tuesday, 8% on Thursday and finally 10% on November 14.

Friday’s cancellation levels were the 72nd worst for the U.S. flight market since Jan. 1, 2024, according to Cirium. This period also included a Christmas crisis in the southwest of the country after extreme weather conditions and massive delays to Delta Airlines last summer, following a CrowdStrike technology outage.

The financial impact of the latest disruptions is not immediately clear. Cancellations could help boost airline unit revenue as customers compete for fewer seats, “but we also believe the extended shutdown and widespread cancellations will impact booking demand in the near term,” Scott Group, an airline analyst at Wolfe Research, wrote in a note Friday.

The discounts come during a typically weak time for travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, but they nonetheless have many travelers looking for alternatives. Car rental company Hertz said bookings over the past two days for one-way rentals are up more than 20% compared to the same period last year.

Major network airlines said disruptions were largely concentrated on regional flights serving smaller cities. United Airlinesfor example, said its hub-to-hub and long-haul international flights would not be canceled due to this order.

American airlinesfor its part, said it was limiting disruption to customers by avoiding cutting routes it serves only once or twice a day. Instead, the airline is reducing a few flights per day in high-frequency markets — such as reducing daily departures between its hub at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Northwest Arkansas National Airport from 10 to eight, and from Boston Logan International to Ronald Reagan Washington National from 10 to nine.

The airline canceled 221 flights Friday, according to CEO Robert Isom, who said the airline was “frustrated” by the reduction.

Isom said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the airline is working to ensure flights to all destinations remain in place, but the frequency of those flight paths is decreasing.

“What we’ve done today is we’ve tried to minimize the impact on all of our customers – there’s only 220 flights out of 6,200, and we’ve done it in a way that really impacts our small aircraft,” Isom said. “This level of cancellation is going to increase over time, and that’s something that’s going to be problematic.”

Airlines have offered travelers alternative flights and waived change fees for affected customers.

Experts recommend staying on top of schedule changes by checking airline apps and websites, as well as the fine print of travel insurance.

AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said the company recommends arriving at the airport 2 hours early to avoid long lines and avoid checking a bag if possible in case flights are canceled, although flexibility is most important for all travelers during this time.

Travel insurance experts caution that policies don’t always offer comprehensive protection against shutdown-related changes and that reimbursements can often depend on the specific justification the airline uses to determine the cause of the delay or cancellation.

According to Lauren McCormick, a spokesperson for travel insurance platform Squaremouth, airlines sometimes don’t cite causes other than general delays, even if there’s a closure, which could make it harder to get a refund.

Here is where flights should be eliminated, per the FAA and DOT order:

(Las Vegas Airport was renamed Harry Reid International Airport in 2021.)

—CNBC Greg Iacurci contributed to this report.