People sit in front of windows and look at the tarmac at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City on April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps/Utah News Dispatch)
The 40 airports that saw a 10% drop in flights during the government shutdown nearly equaled the list of the nation’s busiest airports, potentially leading to thousands of flight cancellations across the country, according to a preliminary list from States Newsroom.
According to the Airports Council International-North America, the airport trade group, a 10% reduction at the listed airports would mean 3,300 canceled flights per day.
The Federal Aviation Administration had not released an official list of airports as of early Thursday afternoon, but three sources familiar with the matter provided tables of the proposed airports.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that the FAA will throttle traffic at 40 major airports starting Friday to ease stress on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay since the federal government shutdown on Oct. 1.
The airports on the tentative list are:
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Chicago Midway
- Chicago O’Hare
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
- Dallas/Forth Worth International
- Dallas Love Field
- Denver
- Detroit
- Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Florida
- Honolulu
- Houston George Bush Intercontinental
- Houston WP Hobby
- Indianapolis
- Vegas
- Louisville, Ky
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Minneapolis/St. Paul
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Newark, New Jersey
- New York LaGuardia International
- New York John F. Kennedy International
- Orlando, Florida
- Oakland, California
- Ontario, California
- Portland, Ore
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Salt Lake City
- Seattle/Tacoma
- Teterboro, New Jersey
- Tampa, Florida
- Washington, DC Reagan National and Dulles International, both in Northern Virginia
Bustling Nashville, Raleigh-Durham is not on the list
Although the list has significant overlap with the country’s busiest airports, there are some exceptions.
The busiest passenger airport not included was Nashville, Tennessee, which was the 28th busiest airport in the country in 2024, according to Airports Council International-North America.
Austin, Texas; St. Louis; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Sacramento, California; New Orleans; Kansas City; and San Jose, California, were also among the 40 busiest airports that will not see reductions Friday.
Memphis, Anchorage and Louisville are not in the top 40 for passenger traffic, but are in the top three for freight traffic.
Oakland and Indianapolis were just outside the top 40 in passenger traffic. Teterboro Airport was not among the group’s 50 busiest airports.
$327 million in daily economic output was lost
According to the council, a 10% reduction at the listed airports would reduce airport economic output by approximately $327 million per day.
Because the discounts affect the country’s busiest airports, which serve as hubs for the major airlines, they also affect airports that are not on the list but rely on flights to and from those hubs.
The group’s president and CEO, Kevin M. Burke, said in a statement that the group and its members have adapted to rapidly changing conditions during the shutdown, but that they have “reached a breaking point.”
“The current course is unsustainable,” Burke said. “With the busy holidays on the horizon, Congress and the Administration must come together now to reopen the federal government with a clear, bipartisan standing resolution, pay federal workers and restore operational safety for the millions of air travelers who take to the skies every day.”
Prioritize security
At a news conference on Wednesday, Duffy said the decision was made to keep flying sheltered. He urged overworked air traffic controllers not to take second jobs, but was “not naive” that many had to do so to pay their bills.
He said the agency’s decision was made to prevent accidents that could result from overburdened air traffic controllers while reassuring the flying public that commercial air travel remains extremely sheltered.
President Donald Trump was less clear during an appearance in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“It’s a fair question,” he said when a reporter asked him whether it was still sheltered to fly. “Sean Duffy has announced that they want to cut 10% in certain areas and make sure it’s 100% safe. That’s why they’re doing it.”
Democrats are calling for an end to the shutdown
Some Democratic lawmakers who blocked a bill to temporarily reopen the government at fiscal 2025 levels to force Republicans to negotiate an extension of tax credits for insurance purchased on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace renewed those demands in airy of the FAA’s decision.
Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, said in a statement from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport handles an average of 60,000 passengers on 750 flights daily.
She called on Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to negotiate with their party over the expiring health insurance tax credits to reopen the government “so we don’t see the impact like we did with MSP.”
“The only way forward is negotiations so that air travel in the skies over Minnesota and the country can continue to operate safely and at full capacity and our government can finally reopen,” she said.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Democrat Rick Larsen of Washington state called Duffy’s move “drastic and unprecedented” and requested the FAA stock data that went into the decision.
He also called for an end to the lockdown to allow air traffic controllers to be paid.
“Shutting down parts of our national airspace system is a dramatic and unprecedented step that requires greater transparency,” he said. “The FAA must immediately share with Congress all safety risk assessments and related data on which this decision is based. If we want to solve problems in the NAS, let’s fix health care, open the government, and pay transportation and aviation security personnel.”
