Travellers face cancelled flights over US shutdown

Hundreds of flights have been canceled across the U.S. as airlines begin complying with the Federal Aviation Administration’s unprecedented order to scale back routes across the country due to the government shutdown.

While the agency’s order left some travelers scrambling to find backup plans, most were relieved to find their planes were still on schedule as airlines slowly phased in discounts at the nation’s busiest airports.

The 40 airports selected for the slowdown span more than two dozen states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to the website FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions, more than 800 flights have been canceled nationwide; Four times that number were canceled on Thursday.

Airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and Phoenix experienced the most outages, FlightAware said.

But not all travelers were lucky.

Karen Soika of Greenwich, Connecticut, learned her flight out of Newark, New Jersey, on Friday morning was booked an hour early.

But he later learned that his flight was actually taking off from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, at least an hour away.

“I’m a surgeon, I’m used to chaos,” he said.

As airlines hurriedly adjusted their schedules and began canceling flights on Thursday, passengers waited anxiously to find out whether their flights would depart as planned.

“We operate over 6,000 flights today,” American Airlines chief operating officer David Seymour told ABC.

“We have now had to cancel 220 flights today as part of this directive and this number will remain the same throughout the weekend until we start ramping up. We are working tirelessly day and night to ensure we minimize the disruption to our customers.”

Delta Air Lines said it would cancel about 170 flights on Friday, while American planned to reduce 220 flights each day through Monday.

Airlines directed passengers planning for the weekend to check apps to find out their flight status.

Some passengers quickly sought alternatives.

Hertz reported a sharp increase in one-way car rentals.

Most of the routes cut Friday were shuttle flights in the Northeast and Florida, as well as flights between Dallas and smaller cities, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Officials say the discounts will start at 4 percent on flights at the busiest airports and increase by up to 10 percent per week starting Friday.

They will affect all commercial airlines.

It’s a slower season for travel right now, which means airlines need to be better able to book passengers on other flights, said Savanthi Syth, airline analyst for Raymond James.

The biggest airlines expect limited disruption this weekend and stressed that international flights are not expected to be affected.

But this turmoil will intensify in the coming days and could become chaotic if the slowdown extends into the Thanksgiving holiday, which is just a few weeks away.

Even after the slowdown is over, it will take days to return to normal.

The agency said the cuts were necessary to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay for more than a month.

Many are pushing back on the six-day work week with mandatory overtime, and a growing number have begun making that call as financial strain and fatigue mount.

The order comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.

Ending the shutdown will make it easier for controllers, but the FAA said flight disruptions will continue until safety data improves.