JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As flight delays and cancellations continue piling up nationwide after the Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce traffic, travelers are feeling the ripple effects, including at the Jacksonville International Airport.
As of early Monday, airlines had already canceled nearly 1,600 flights and nearly 1,000 for Tuesday nationwide. According to FlightAware, as of 6 a.m., eight flights have been canceled at JAX.
Many airports are facing significant delays for flights that haven’t been canceled as well, with airports in Newark, Orlando, Chicago and Detroit all facing departure delays of more than an hour and increasing, according to FlightAware.
News4JAX went to the airport on Monday morning to speak with travelers and ask them about their experience.
Some travelers had no complaints and said their experience had been smooth sailing, while others said they traveled for hours to get to this airport because of the cancellations that happened at the original airport they were traveling from.
Roni La Hartl told News4JAX she had to drive four hours to get to JAX because her flight was canceled in Tampa.
“We were already at the airport, so we had to find a flight. This is the only flight where I can go home today. And I’m supposed to work today,” she said.
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The Senate took a first step toward ending the shutdown Sunday, but final passage could still be several days away, and experts have said it will take time for flights to go back to normal even after the government reopens.
This is the second pay period that air traffic controllers have not received any pay for their work. The head of the air traffic controllers union, Nick Daniels, will hold a press conference Monday morning to address the impact the shutdown is having on them.
The delays and cancellations are likely to get worse as airlines are increasingly unable to reposition planes, pilots and flight attendants due to the air traffic controller shortage.
The FAA implemented a 4% mandatory reduction in flights this weekend to manage staffing. That will increase to 6% on Tuesday and 10% reduction by this upcoming weekend. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on “Fox News Sunday” that additional flight cuts of up to 20% might be needed.
“More controllers aren’t coming to work day by day, the further they go without a paycheck,” Duffy said.
The government has been short of air traffic controllers for years, and multiple presidential administrations have tried to persuade retirement-age controllers to remain on the job. Duffy said the shutdown has exacerbated the problem, leading some air traffic controllers to speed up their retirements.
While 4% may sound modest, much of that reduction is happening at 40 of the nation’s busiest and most congested airports. The FAA says the flight reduction is necessary to keep travelers safe as many of the remaining controllers have been putting in long hours and mandatory overtime while the government remains unfunded.
If not addressed soon, the situation could get even worse as the U.S. heads into the busy holiday travel season. Duffy said that air travel may “be reduced to a trickle” by the week of Thanksgiving.
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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writer Rio Yamat contributed from Las Vegas.