Here’s how the air travel network is being impacted:
Another 1,200 commercial flights were scratched Tuesday as the Federal Aviation Administration bumped up its target for reducing domestic flights at the nation’s busiest airports to 6%, up from an initial 4% cut at those 40 airports. However, the cancellations so far Tuesday have been less than in the past couple of days.
The FAA hasn’t put a timeline on when it will ease back on the flight limitations. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the cuts won’t go away until safety measurements improve and staffing levels stabilize at air traffic control facilities.
The flight restrictions have upended airline operations in just a matter of days. Many planes were rerouted and aren’t where they’re supposed to be. That could slow the airlines’ return to business as usual even after the FAA lifts the cuts, said Mike Taylor, an analyst with J.D. Power.
The pace of airline ticket sales for Thanksgiving travel has slowed as more travelers reconsider whether to fly amid all the delays and cancellations. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said ticket sales during the busy travel season at the end of November are still expected to be up over last year, but only slightly.
Canceled flights and mounting delays are adding to big losses for the airlines. The lost revenue is likely to add up to “hundreds of millions of dollars a day,’’ said Greg Raiff, CEO of the Elevate Aviation Group. He expects the toll to show up when the airlines start issuing earnings warnings for the fourth quarter.
An estimated 5.2 million passengers have been affected by staffing-related delays or cancellations since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, according to Airlines for America, an industry trade group. However, it said cancellations really didn’t become a significant issue until the FAA ordered the flight cuts last week.
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Yamat reported from Las Vegas, Funk from Omaha, Nebraska, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio.
