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Flights across major US airports were severely delayed as the FAA faced a shortage of air traffic controllers working without pay during the ongoing government shutdown. Over 6,000 flights were delayed and 1,100 cancelled nationwide on Thursday.
An airliner, making it's approach as flight delays surge from the government shutdown.(Image: Reuters)
Washington,UPDATED: Oct 31, 2025 07:08 IST
Flights at Orlando, Dallas/Fort Worth and Washington, DC airports were delayed on Thursday due to a shortage of air traffic controllers during the US government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Delays averaged more than two hours at Orlando, 90 minutes at Airport in Washington and 21 minutes at Dallas, the agency said.
FlightAware, a flight tracking website, said nearly 6,000 flights had been delayed and 1,100 cancelled nationwide on Thursday. About 20 percent of flights were affected at United Airlines UAL.O, American Airlines AAL.O, Southwest Airlines LUV.N and Delta Air Lines DAL.N, FlightAware said.
Since the government shutdown began on October 1, more than 13,000 air traffic controllers have been required to work without pay. Some are taking second jobs to make ends meet, and the number calling in sick has increased.
The FAA had planned to close Orlando for landings on Thursday night due to insufficient staff but reversed that when it secured enough controllers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this week that 44 percent of delays on Sunday and 24 percent on Monday were caused by air traffic controller absences, compared to 5 percent on average before the shutdown.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown.
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Published By:
Akshat Trivedi
Published On:
Oct 31, 2025
