NATIONWIDE — The severe disruption to air travel escalated sharply over the weekend as the government shutdown continued to strain air traffic control staffing, leading to the cancellation of over 2,100 flights nationwide on Sunday alone.
This latest figure brings the weekend’s total cancellations to well over 4,600, following 1,024 cancellations on Friday and 1,521 on Saturday. The widespread chaos is a direct result of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limiting flight capacity at 40 major U.S. airports due to persistent staffing shortages.
As the slowdown entered its third day, more than 7,000 flight delays were reported on Sunday, according to FlightAware, adding to the 6,400 delays from the previous day.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a dire warning, stating that air traffic across the nation could “slow to a trickle” if the federal government shutdown lingers into the busy Thanksgiving travel season.
“The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said on Sunday, noting that further cuts—perhaps up to 20%—might be needed if air traffic controllers, who have gone without paychecks for nearly a month, continue to call out in higher numbers.
The FAA-mandated flight reductions, which started at a 4% cut on Friday and are scheduled to increase to 10% by November 14th, are impacting all major carriers:
| Airline | Saturday Cancellations | Saturday Delays | Sunday Cancellation Update |
| Delta | ~7% canceled | 30% delayed | Over 500 flights canceled on Sunday. |
| American Airlines | ~3% canceled | 30% delayed | Exact numbers pending, but disruptions continue. |
| United | ~3% canceled | 30% delayed | Exact numbers pending, but disruptions continue. |
| Southwest | ~3% canceled | 25% delayed | Exact numbers pending, but disruptions continue. |
The impact was most severe at major hubs, with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta reporting the highest number of cancellations on Sunday (over 570), followed by Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey (at least 265). Staffing shortages also caused average departure delays of approximately 75 minutes at New York-area airports, such as Newark and LaGuardia.
