The FAA air traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in the Queens borough of New York, United States, on Friday, November 7, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Transportation Department on Wednesday evening froze flight reductions it imposed less than a week ago as air travel disruptions eased across the United States.
The department implemented the freeze before the House approved a funding bill that would keep the government open until January. President Donald Trump will sign the bill on Wednesday, the White House said.
As of Wednesday, 816 U.S. departures were canceled, or 3.5% of the airlines’ schedule, the lowest rate and number of cancellations since last Thursday, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
The shutdown once again put air travel in the spotlight and increased pressure on air traffic controllers, who were forced to work without receiving their usual pay. The DOT said in a statement Wednesday evening that there had been a “rapid decrease” in calls from controllers over the past two days.
Trump administration officials on Friday began requiring airlines to cut schedules, citing security risks and additional pressure on controllers. Necessary cancellations rose from 4% of domestic flights at U.S. airports to 6% on Tuesday, blaming increased pressure on air traffic controllers. They would have increased to 10% by Friday, but the DOT froze the increases Wednesday evening.
But those reductions were not enough to avoid further disruptions, made worse by widespread staff shortages and bad weather, leading to an influx of cancellations and delays last weekend.
Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the shutdown would have a financial impact on the carrier, but would be far from wiping out the airline’s profits. He warned that he believed there would be another shutdown at some point and said air traffic controllers would have to be paid if that happened.
U.S. airline stocks were broadly up Wednesday ahead of the House vote.
Short-staffed air traffic controllers grew during the shutdown that began Oct. 1, causing thousands of flights to be slowed or canceled and disrupting the travel plans of 5 million passengers, according to Airlines for America, an industry group that represents the largest U.S. carriers. Some air traffic controllers have been forced to take second jobs to make ends meet, the controllers’ union and government officials said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and major airlines warned this week that air travel would not immediately return to normal, even after the shutdown.
“We’re going to wait to see the data on our side before we remove travel restrictions, but it depends on the controllers returning to work,” Duffy said during a news conference at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday.