FAA holds flight cuts at 6% as government shutdown ends

BOSTON — The FAA announced Wednesday it’ll keep flight cuts at 6% now that more air traffic controllers are coming to work, instead of increasing cuts to 10% by the end of the week.

It’s unclear if all those workers will return to the job now that the historic government shutdown is ending, so the effects could linger at airports.

“So you’ve got crews that are out of position, you’ve got maybe some aircrafts that are out of position, the airline basically has to reassemble itself to a full schedule so that’s gonna take days,” said Tom Kinton, former CEO of Massport, who now runs Kinton Aviation Consulting.

Kinton believes there could be a sense of normalcy at major airports in about a week now that the government will officially reopen, but:

“We can’t assume that every control tower is gonna be fully staffed either, some air traffic controllers may opt to not come back into this business given the uncertainty,” said Kinton.

The bill that lawmakers just passed to reopen the government would only fund federal workers through January.

Kinton says some air traffic controllers may reconsider the job not knowing if they’ll have another gap in pay next year.

“I’m concerned that we’re not going to have on day one controllers come back into the towers right away,” said Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary, on Tuesday.

Secretary Duffy agrees there may be lingering impacts at airports even with the shutdown ending, and it’s still unclear when the FAA will lift its flight restrictions, currently at a 6% reduction at 40 major airports.

“We’re trying to manage risk in the system to make sure people fly and fly safely,” said Duffy.

Kinton says next week is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year for business travel leading into the Thanksgiving holiday, so if you are traveling soon:

“My best advice is pack your patience,” said Kinton.

Duffy says when the government officially reopens, air traffic controllers will get 70% of their backpay within 48 hours and likely the rest the following week.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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