Canceled flights are displayed on an arrivals board at San Francisco International Airport on Nov. 7, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The first flights affected by a new Federal Aviation Administration directive led to widespread delays and cancellations Friday.
The FAA will ramp up to a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports by Nov. 14, starting with a 4% reduction Friday.
More than 1,000 flights had been canceled by 5 p.m. Eastern Friday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com, compared with just more than 200 on Thursday.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford announced the plan Wednesday. The reductions would help ease the strain on air traffic controllers, who have been working without pay during the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
Duffy said controllers were taking second jobs to make ends meet and were experiencing fatigue and stress, leading to safety concerns.
Shutdown delays in D.C., Chicago, Atlanta and more
Seven airports on the list of 40 had ground delays Friday, with staffing shortages at 18 air traffic control towers triggering delays at others, according to an FAA advisory.
Departures at Washington Reagan National Airport, just outside the nation’s capital in Northern Virginia, were averaging a four-hour delay Friday afternoon, according to FAA data.
The airport led the nation with 73 cancellations Friday, according to FlightAware. Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Denver International and Dallas/Fort Worth airports were also in the top five for cancellations.
Duffy visited Washington Reagan National earlier in the day to check in with travelers and brief reporters. He said he couldn’t give an exact figure on the number of affected flights, but said he hoped the reduction in flights would help controllers miss less work.
“I don’t want to see the disruption,” he said. “I don’t want to see the delays. Now, there could be a benefit if I can get the controllers to come back to work.”
Duffy recommended Friday that travelers continue to book flights now, rather than waiting for the shutdown to end. He said in an ABC News interview that waiting to book a flight could put fliers in the position of paying higher prices.
Regional carriers
Nate Vallier, a partner at Alaska Travel Desk, a travel agency, said in a Friday press release the cancellations appeared to mostly hit smaller regional carriers.
“We’re seeing a lot of randomness in the cancellations, as a way to spread the pain per se,” Vallier said. “But the majority of canceled flights so far are with regional jets, such as those flown by SkyWest, Horizon, and American Eagle’s Envoy Divisions.”
Alaska Beacon reporter James Brooks contributed to this report.
