Major airlines say they plan to cancel hundreds of flights Friday, out of thousands of daily flights, as the Federal Aviation Administration begins limiting flight capacity at 40 major U.S. airports amid the government shutdown.
American Airlines said Thursday that it will cancel about 220 of its roughly 6,000 departures starting Friday and continuing through this weekend.
United Airlines said in a statement that it plans to cancel fewer than 200 of its more than 5,000 flights each day over the weekend, focusing on those that have the least impact on passengers.
People wait in the concourse of Terminal A at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on November 6, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford has announced that the FAA will reduce flights by 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country in an effort to keep airspace safe amid staffing shortages due to the government shutdown.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Delta Airlines said it planned to cancel about 170 flights daily.
American, United and Delta, the three largest U.S. airlines, have said they believe they will be able to accommodate most of the affected passengers on other flights.
The cancellations are the latest, and perhaps largest, disruption to air travel since the government shutdown began more than a month ago.
The FAA said earlier this week that it was reducing flight capacity at 40 major airports across the country to ease staffing pressures. This weekend’s reductions will start at 4% but eventually increase to 10%, federal officials said.
Low an emergency order issued by the FAA on Thursday, airlines must reduce operations at the 40 “high-impact airports” by 6% by Nov. 11 and by 10% by Nov. 14. Any airline that does not comply will be fined $75,000 per flight over the limit, according to the FAA order.
United Airlines aircraft are parked at the terminal gates at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on November 6, 2025 in Houston, Texas. Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford has announced that the FAA will reduce flights by 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country in an effort to keep airspace safe amid staffing shortages due to the government shutdown.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
That announcement came after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously said the FAA would be forced to close airspace in some areas if the shutdown continues into next week, warning of “massive chaos.”
Staff shortages among air traffic controllers have been a constant concern and there have been isolated flight delays and cancellations in recent weeks as the lockdown has dragged on.
Last weekend, an increase in calls among air traffic controllers led to staff overload at several US airports. – including in the New York City area, where 80% of controllers were absent at any given time, the FAA reported.
Air traffic controllers, who are required to work without pay during the shutdown, are credited with helping end the most recent shutdown in 2019, when a series of absences delayed flights and increased pressure on members of Congress.
Travelers wait in line to go through a security checkpoint at a terminal at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jeff Chiu/AP
It is unclear what precise impact flight cancellations will have on air travel in general.
“We’re not in the peak of summer, we’re not in a holiday period. So we’re confident that we have enough seats in these markets to accommodate all travelers,” United chief customer officer David Kinzelman told ABC News.
“There will be no chaos over the weekend,” he said, comparing the impact of the reductions to a “medium-sized storm.”
He added: “We’re going to cancel the flights that we think have the least amount of disruption to customers. If you’re in a market with just two small regional flights and you cancel one or both, that’s a huge impact for that market. We want to avoid that. And so what we’re doing is really spreading it throughout the system.”
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
