Government Shutdown Triggers Flight Delays at LAX, Newark, Las Vegas

(LOS ANGELES, LAS VEGAS, NEWARK) A protracted United States 🇺🇸 government shutdown that began on October 1, 2025 has triggered major flight disruptions at Los Angeles International (LAX), Newark Liberty (EWR), and Harry Reid International in Las Vegas (LAS), as air traffic controller shortages forced the Federal Aviation Administration to slow or halt traffic at times. By the fourth week of the shutdown, the system’s thin staffing and growing fatigue showed clear strain, leading to ground stop orders, rolling delays, and missed connections for thousands of travelers.

Recent disruptions and key dates

On Sunday, October 26, 2025, a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility led to a ground stop at LAX starting at 8:42 a.m. Pacific, lasting almost two hours. Departures were held, and arriving flows were throttled. Average delays at LAX reached 49 minutes, with some flights waiting as long as 87 minutes to depart.

At Newark Liberty, a ground delay extended until just before 1 a.m. local time the next day, with average delays hitting 82 minutes as the FAA metered traffic to match reduced staffing.

Harry Reid International (Las Vegas) saw 15–30 minute slowdowns during peak periods, with more pauses possible when winds and staffing constraints combined to reduce available arrival and departure rates.

Scope beyond the three airports

FAA planning documents over the last several days repeatedly cited “staffing triggers” when setting or extending traffic management programs. The congestion was not limited to California, Nevada, and New Jersey. Similar delays rippled through:

• Boston Logan
• San Francisco
• Dallas/Fort Worth
• Reagan National (DCA)
• Chicago O’Hare

The Department of Transportation has reported that 53% of delays are now due to staffing shortages, a steep rise from the typical 5% share. That jump underscores how the shutdown has weakened normal operating buffers.

How airlines and facilities are responding

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, airlines responded by:

• Holding flights at gates
• Retiming departures
• Reassigning crews

These moves help only so much when staffing constraints limit the number of aircraft that can safely move through the system at once. The result: lingering queues and ripple effects for connecting banks, especially for passengers traveling through the busiest hubs.

Air traffic controllers are essential employees who must report to work even when agencies lack funding. During this government shutdown, many controllers have been working 10-hour shifts, six days a week, without pay. As unpaid bills mount and fatigue deepens, more controllers have reportedly called in sick, creating a feedback loop: thinner staffing triggers conservative flow limits, which then produce the next wave of delays.

FAA technicians and other critical personnel have faced similar pressures, tightening capacity across facilities that guide traffic into and out of LAX, EWR, and LAS.

Safety-first operations and traffic management tools

The immediate pain shows up at boarding gates and baggage carousels, but the deeper stress sits in control rooms where safety margins must never bend. When a sector is short on certified controllers, supervisors reduce the number of planes allowed to enter that airspace. That prudence protects lives, yet it also slows the day’s entire schedule.

During this shutdown, the range of tools the FAA uses to keep traffic moving—such as miles-in-trail spacing, ground delay programs, and reroutes—has met hard limits when there simply aren’t enough trained eyes to handle normal demand.

When staffing dips suddenly because several unpaid controllers cannot cover a shift, capacity can fall with little notice. That’s when the FAA must use sharp tools like ground stop orders to buy time and keep the sky safe.

Current status and near-term outlook (as of October 27, 2025)

The current status as of October 27, 2025 remains fluid. The FAA continues to issue ground delay programs and warns that additional ground stop orders may be necessary when staffing dips below safe thresholds.

The agency can shift some flows and rotate overtime to cover gaps, but fatigue and financial hardship constrain how long those tactics can hold. Forecasts for the days ahead point to more of the same unless funding is restored and staffing levels stabilize.

Passenger impacts: examples from recent days

Travelers feel the immediate consequences in many ways:

• People landing late at LAX missed last flights to regional cities up and down the West Coast.
• Families heading to international connections at Newark had to rebook for the next day, paying for hotels they did not expect to need.
• In Las Vegas, short delays stacked up during busy mid-morning departure waves, pushing some travelers into longer TSA lines and forcing last-minute gate changes.

For many, the frustration is not only the delay but the uncertainty—queues move, gate boards update, and projected times slip as the day evolves.

Cascading effects on airline operations

The shutdown’s cascade hits airlines too:

• Crews “time out” under duty rules when delays push them past legal limits, leading to last-minute cancellations.
• Aircraft miss their next assignment, and maintenance windows get squeezed.
• Regional carriers that feed the big hubs can be especially exposed; when a hub’s arrival rate is cut, regional flights often absorb the reductions first.

Members of Congress have traded blame over budget priorities, but for travelers and workers, the day-to-day reality is simple: less staffing, more delays, and few easy fixes until the funding gap is resolved. State and local officials in California, Nevada, and New Jersey have voiced concern about the strain on local economies that rely on predictable air service for tourism, business travel, and cargo.

What travelers can do right now

While the reasons behind the delays sit far from the gate, passengers can take practical steps to lessen the impact during this government shutdown:

• Use your airline’s app to track your flight and enable push alerts for real-time changes.
• Recheck your itinerary the night before and early the morning of travel, especially if you connect through LAX, EWR, or LAS.
• Build extra buffer time for connections; plan for at least two hours domestic-to-domestic, and longer if you need to clear security again.
• Consider morning departures, which may have a better chance of leaving before the day’s delays grow.
• If your flight is delayed more than an hour, ask the airline if rerouting to a less congested hub is possible.

The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center posts current advisories and delay programs that airlines and airports use to plan their operations. Checking the FAA Command Center advisories can help travelers see whether a ground stop or ground delay program is active for their departure or arrival airport and understand the broad reason behind a slow day.

How staffing shortages become daily delays — an analogy

The heart of the system is the network of en route centers and terminal radar facilities that feed traffic into major airports. When those facilities are fully staffed, they can accept a certain number of planes per hour based on runway availability, weather, and equipment. During air traffic controller shortages, that number drops.

The FAA then meters traffic from the start to keep the volume at safe levels. It’s similar to a highway on-ramp metering light—cars wait at the light so the freeway never becomes unsafe. But when the meter is set to a slower pace, the line at the light grows and the ripple goes backward into city streets.

• At LAX, the Southern California facility’s shortage forced metering to tighten on October 26, leading to the morning ground stop and a daylong struggle to catch up.
• At Newark, the long ground delay into the early morning hours mirrored tight staffing conditions on the East Coast.
• Las Vegas stayed mostly within a 15–30 minute delay range, though winds at times reduced runway capacity and compounded the staffing squeeze.

Other airports faced the same math. Boston and San Francisco added delays when staffing and weather overlapped. Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare, with dense schedules and heavy connecting banks, saw operations slow as the FAA capped arrival rates to match controller teams available at key facilities. Late-day flights often suffered most as earlier delays piled up.

Historical context and longer-term concerns

The historical comparison many travelers remember is the January 2019 shutdown. That event ended sooner and did not overlap with today’s deeper staffing gaps. Many seasoned controllers retired in recent years, and training pipelines have struggled to keep up.

The current crisis is therefore more intense: more days without pay, more overtime, and more risk that burnout will further thin the ranks.

As the shutdown continues, uncertainty remains the system’s greatest enemy. Airlines can plan around known constraints—weather, runway work, even routine traffic surges. But when staffing dips suddenly because several unpaid controllers cannot cover a shift, capacity can fall with little notice.

The human side and final advice

The people behind these delays are neighbors and community members, not just headset silhouettes in a tower. Controllers carry the weight of thousands of lives every shift. When their teams shrink, they slow the system to preserve safety. It’s a sober choice with public consequences, but it is the right one when resources are short.

For now, the advice is steady:

• Check your flight often
• Pack patience
• Be ready to adjust

If you’re heading through LAX, Newark, or Las Vegas during peak hours, expect lines, potential gate changes, and tight connections. And if Congress reaches a deal to end the funding lapse, don’t expect an overnight recovery — it may take days to unwind backlogs and reset schedules after weeks of rolling delays.

The stakes are clear in the numbers: a jump from 5% to 53% of delays tied to staffing reflects a fragile system stretched by a political standoff. That figure will likely remain elevated as long as controllers work extended hours without pay. For travelers, that means continued caution when booking tight connections. For airlines, that means crew and aircraft planning that accounts for persistent constraints. And for air traffic controllers, it means another long day—then another—until the funding debate ends and paychecks resume.