The FAA dropped a bombshell Thursday evening. The agency ordered airlines to reduce traffic at the country's 40 busiest airports starting Friday due to the government shutdown.
Reductions begin at 4% Friday and ramp up to 10% by November 14. The cuts apply between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time for all commercial airlines.
More than 760 planned Friday flights were already cut from airline schedules by Thursday evening, according to FlightAware. That number - four times higher than Thursday's daily total - was expected to keep climbing.
The 40 airports span more than two dozen states. Major hubs include:
Multiple airports will be impacted in metropolitan areas including New York, Houston, Chicago, and Washington.
The FAA cited air traffic controller strain as the reason. The order states controllers are showing "signs of strain during the shutdown" with "continued delays and unpredictable staffing shortages, which are driving fatigue."
"Risk is further increasing, and the FAA is concerned with the system's ability to maintain the current volume of operations," the order reads.
The decision to reduce service at "high-volume" markets is meant to maintain travel safety. It also comes as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.
Hours before reductions went into effect, airlines scrambled to figure out where to cut.
American Airlines reduced its schedule at listed airports by 4% from Friday through Monday - about 220 cancellations each day. The carrier said it would move toward the 10% target from there. American's international schedule is expected to remain untouched.
Other airlines were making similar calculations Thursday evening, deciding which routes to cut while trying to minimize passenger disruption.
Travelers with weekend plans and beyond waited nervously to see if their flights would take off as scheduled. Some began changing or canceling itineraries preemptively rather than risk last-minute disruptions.
The timing couldn't be worse - Friday marks the start of the weekend travel period when many people fly for leisure or visit family.
The government shutdown just got real for millions of travelers. What was a political standoff in Washington is now grounding hundreds of flights and disrupting travel plans nationwide.
The FAA's safety concerns about strained air traffic controllers are legitimate - fatigue among controllers creates genuine risk. But the timing of this order also serves as political pressure on Congress to end the shutdown.
Starting at 4% cuts and ramping to 10% gives airlines and passengers some adjustment time, but 10% capacity reductions at 40 major airports will create significant travel disruption. That means longer wait times, fuller flights, higher fares, and fewer options for rebooking when problems occur.
American Airlines cutting 220 flights daily is just one carrier. Multiply that across all airlines at 40 airports and the impact becomes massive.