| Flight Disruptions Mount As Shutdown Drags On -- Barrons.com |
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| Dow Jones Newswires November 09, 2025 01:54:00 PM ET
The number of flight cancellations and delayed jumped this weekend, as the longest-ever federal government shutdown stretched into its 40th day.
More than 1,654 flights into and out of U.S. airports had been canceled by 1 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, including hundreds of flights at Newark Liberty International in the NYC area and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, according to FlightAware.com flight-tracking site.
Hartsfield-Jackson is also a major Delta Air Lines hub, and Delta canceled 489, or 14% of its daily flights on Sunday, while Southwest Airlines canceled 147 flights and delayed 1,256 flights, or 29% of its flights, according to FlightAware.
About 4,940 flights have been delayed on Sunday. That brings the number of flights canceled since Friday to more than 4,200, while the number of cancellations is above 19,500.
Thousands of air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration officers, and other federal airport workers are continuing to show up for work, despite not having been paid since Sept. 30.
The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting flight delays at Newark, New York's LaGuardia, Chicago O'Hare, Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and Southwest Florida airport in Fort Myers.
Adverse weather is also exacerbating flight conditions, with both Detroit Metropolitan and Akron-Canton Airport deicing planes on Sunday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who had ordered commercial flights to be cut by up to 10% starting Friday because of ongoing staffing issues, told CNN's State of the Union that about 15 to 20 air traffic controllers are retiring every day, up from four ATCs a day before the shutdown.
Duffy also said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had offered to help, telling Duffy in a text that military reservists trained as air traffic controllers could step in. "'If you could use them, I'm going to offer them to you.,' Duffy told CNN about what the text said.
But Duffy added he wasn't certain they could step in. "They're not certified in the airspaces that we need them," he said. "But if I can, I'm going to use them."
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association union couldn't immediately be reached.
Separately, Sen. James Lankford (R, Okla.) told NBC's Meet the Press that the government shutdown "absolutely needs to" end by Thanksgiving, when air travel volumes soar.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
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