As flight restrictions begin to kick in at 40 airports around the country, travelers can expect more cancellations and delays. Following an emergency order from the U.S. Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration, flight traffic is being reduced 4% Friday and will ramp up to 10% a week from now.

What You Need To Know

  • The Federal Aviation Administration's order to scale back flights nationwide because of the government shutdown took effect Friday

  • Flights at 40 major airports, including in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, are being cut Friday

  • The FAA says its goal is to reduce flights 4% Friday, ramping up to 10% by Nov. 14 to ease pressure on unpaid air traffic controllers

  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday restrictions could increase to 20% if the government shutdown continues

  • As of 6 p.m. EST, more than 1,000 flights had been canceled and over 4,700 had been delayed, according to FlightAware

“The safest way to get to 10% is to do a stepped approach,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday morning, adding that he was taking the advice of the FAA safety team.

Flight restrictions will increase to 6% Tuesday, 8% Thursday and 10% Nov. 14, Duffy said. International flights will not be affected.

"If this continues and I have more controllers who decide they can't come to work and control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job, with that you might see 10% would have been a good number," Duffy said Friday in an interview with Breitbart. "We might go to 15 or 20%."

Even after the government reopens, he said it will take days and possibly a week for flight schedules to return to normal, he told Fox News on Friday.

Since the FAA announced Wednesday that it would reduce flight traffic by 10% at 40 high-traffic airports around the country, Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford have reiterated that the national airspace remains safe. They say reducing air traffic is necessary to maintain safety as the nation’s 13,000 air traffic controllers grow increasingly fatigued and call out sick because of the government shutdown, now in its 38th day.

The 40 affected airports span more than two dozen states and include hubs in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and New York. As of 6 p.m. EST, more than 1,000 flights had been canceled and over 4,700 had been delayed, according to FlightAware

“Very stressful. Everyone just wants to get to their destinations, whether it’s for work or for school or vice versa," Yommna Mohamed, who was successfully boarding a flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Detroit, told Spectrum News NY1’s Noorulain Khawaja. "We’re just hoping it ends soon, and everyone can get where they want to be."

“I hope we get to where we’re going," Tampa International Airport traveler Marko Radosavljevic told Spectrum News Bay News 9 on Friday morning. "We’re not going far. We’re going to Atlanta, but we are delayed. I guess that’s what happens, and we have to be a little patient.”

Said Patricia Rocha, who was flying from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Mexico to tour wedding venues with her fiancé, told Spectrum News 1: “It’s scary because I feel like a lot of people plan their trips, and I have to arrive this day, and there’s not a lot of leeway."

United, Delta and American are among the major airlines that have said they will offer customers refunds or credits on flights impacted by the FAA flight restrictions.

More than 815 flights have been called off nationwide, according to FlightAware. Delta Air Lines said it would scratch roughly 170 flights Friday, and American Airlines planned to cut 220 a day through Monday.

Airlines scrambled to adjust their schedules and began canceling flights Thursday in anticipation of the FAA's official order, while travelers waited nervously to learn if their flights would take off as scheduled.

“We are operating today over 6,000 flights,” David Seymour, chief operating officer for American Airlines, told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Now we’ve had to cancel as part of this directive 220 flights today and that will be the same number through the weekend, until we start ramping up. We have been working tirelessly throughout, around the clock, to ensure that we’re minimizing the disruption to our customers.”

Airlines directed passengers with plans into the weekend to check apps to learn their flight status.

Some passengers quickly searched for alternatives to flying. Hertz is reporting a sharp increase in one-way car rentals. One-way reservations have spiked more that 20% through the weekend, compared with the same period last year.

“We join the airlines in urging Congress to swiftly pass a clean continuing resolution and restore certainty for travelers,” wrote Hertz CEO Gil West. “Every day of delay creates unnecessary disruption.”

Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans and Democrats pointed the finger at each other over the travel disruptions.

"Make no mistake: Democrats’ shutdown tantrum — now dragging into its 38th day of misery — is a brazen, demented betrayal of the American people," the White House said in a statement. "Now, as FAA safety restrictions loom like a guillotine over holiday flights, Democrats are inflicting their man-made catastrophe on Americans just trying to make life-saving medical trips or get home for Thanksgiving.

"Flights are being cut because the GOP shutdown left air traffic controllers unpaid," Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., wrote on X on Friday. "They’re doing their jobs under impossible stress while (President Donald) Trump plays politics to push budget cuts."

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has been urging an end to the shutdown for weeks, as many of its members resort to taking second jobs.

“The government must reopen immediately to maintain safety and efficiency for the flying public. #EndThe Shutdown,” the association wrote on X on Friday morning.

NATCA President Nick Daniels has been making the rounds of TV news networks in recent days to warn of increasing risk to the national airspace as air traffic controllers go unpaid.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy wrote on X on Thursday: “@NTSB has repeatedly stated low air traffic control staffing levels, mandatory overtime, and six-day work weeks have a direct impact on #safety.”

She praised Duffy for taking action to “mitigate risk and ensure safety.”

Following the FAA flight restriction announcement, the Hawaii Department of Transportation sent a letter to the U.S. Transportation Department that said the state was “ready to immediately advance full salaries and benefits for all FAA air traffic controllers and the Transportation Security Administration security screeners assigned to Hawaii facilities” and requested a full waiver for Hawaii airports from the FAA's planned 10% reduction in scheduled air traffic.

The HDOT’s letter cited Hawaii’s unique vulnerability “as the nation’s most isolated population center, with no viable alternative to air travel” and said the reduction in flights would impact medical services, cargo, national defense and tourism. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.