In an extraordinary press conference on November 5, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford announced a phased plan to slash flight volumes by up to 10 percent at 40 of America’s busiest airports, beginning Friday, unless Congress reopens the federal government. The officials said the move is designed to ease the burden on air-traffic controllers working without pay for more than a month and to protect passenger safety as fatigue and sick-outs rise.
Under the contingency schedule, traffic would be trimmed 4 percent on Friday, 5 percent on Saturday, and 6 percent on Sunday, reaching the full 10 percent cut the following week. International flights are temporarily exempt, but domestic passenger, cargo, charter, and private operations will be affected. Industry analysts at Cirium estimate the reduction could cancel up to 1,800 flights a day and remove 268,000 seats from the U.S. system—disruption on a scale not seen since the pandemic.
![FAA to cut airline traffic by 10 % at 40 major U.S. airports if shutdown drags on]()
The FAA has already offered early-retirement bonuses and accelerated hiring at its Oklahoma City academy, yet the agency is short 3,500 controllers even before the shutdown-related absences. Airlines have warned investors to expect schedule changes and higher re-routing costs, and travel managers are scrambling to re-book critical business trips onto unaffected flights or virtual alternatives.
For global mobility leaders, the implications go beyond delayed itineraries. Assignment start dates may need to shift, relocation household-goods shipments could miss connection flights, and duty-of-care obligations will require real-time traveler communication. Experts advise companies to review traveler profiles for upcoming meetings, cross-reference them with the FAA’s pending list of impacted airports (to be released Thursday), and secure refundable fares where possible.
In the near term, Duffy urged Americans to “pack their patience” for the upcoming Thanksgiving peak. If lawmakers fail to strike a deal, the partial air-traffic shutdown could become a full-blown capacity crisis, forcing corporations to rethink the viability of in-person engagements for the rest of Q4 2025.
Under the contingency schedule, traffic would be trimmed 4 percent on Friday, 5 percent on Saturday, and 6 percent on Sunday, reaching the full 10 percent cut the following week. International flights are temporarily exempt, but domestic passenger, cargo, charter, and private operations will be affected. Industry analysts at Cirium estimate the reduction could cancel up to 1,800 flights a day and remove 268,000 seats from the U.S. system—disruption on a scale not seen since the pandemic.
The FAA has already offered early-retirement bonuses and accelerated hiring at its Oklahoma City academy, yet the agency is short 3,500 controllers even before the shutdown-related absences. Airlines have warned investors to expect schedule changes and higher re-routing costs, and travel managers are scrambling to re-book critical business trips onto unaffected flights or virtual alternatives.
For global mobility leaders, the implications go beyond delayed itineraries. Assignment start dates may need to shift, relocation household-goods shipments could miss connection flights, and duty-of-care obligations will require real-time traveler communication. Experts advise companies to review traveler profiles for upcoming meetings, cross-reference them with the FAA’s pending list of impacted airports (to be released Thursday), and secure refundable fares where possible.
In the near term, Duffy urged Americans to “pack their patience” for the upcoming Thanksgiving peak. If lawmakers fail to strike a deal, the partial air-traffic shutdown could become a full-blown capacity crisis, forcing corporations to rethink the viability of in-person engagements for the rest of Q4 2025.
