(PHOENIX, PORTLAND, LOUISVILLE, BURBANK, PHILADELPHIA, DENVER) Thousands of travelers were stranded on November 6, 2025, as major U.S. airports from Phoenix to Philadelphia grappled with wave after wave of flight cancellations and delays tied to the government shutdown and an escalating air traffic control shortage. By midday, FlightAware reported about 3,400 flight delays and more than 100 cancellations nationwide, compounding a bruising week that saw more than 4,000 delays by the end of the previous day. The Federal Aviation Administration said it will cut air traffic by 10% across 40 major markets, a move that airlines and airport managers warned would trigger further schedule disruptions as the shutdown drags on.
Airlines including SkyWest, Horizon, American, United, Republic, and Delta—along with Envoy Air and others—scrambled to revise schedules, reassign crews, and notify customers as passengers reported hours-long waits at gates and jammed security lines. At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport alone, there were 200 delays and cancellations reported on Wednesday, and travelers at Denver, Portland, Louisville, Burbank, and Philadelphia described similar scenes of uncertainty as departure boards flickered with rolling delays and late-breaking cancellations.
The FAA said it would initially trim flight operations by 4% on Friday, ramping up to a 10% reduction next week, a cut officials said would eliminate thousands of flights each day for as long as the shutdown continues. The reductions will apply across 40 high-volume markets, with ripple effects expected nationwide as crews and aircraft fall out of position. The agency said the measures are designed to maintain safety amid mounting strain on the system, but they will come at a price for travelers in the form of longer travel times, missed connections, and more last-minute changes.
On the ground, passengers in Phoenix said some delays stretched into much of the day.
“It’s about an eight-hour delay. We’ve got a three-hour delay,” one passenger said, explaining how their itinerary shifted multiple times within a morning.
Another traveler recounted,
“It was ten minutes right before we start boarding. Everybody’s there at the gate and the Southwest rep comes on and says, okay, there’s going to be a two-hour delay. The whole crew called off.”
A traveler told FOX 10 Phoenix,
“Lines for security were much longer, which I kind of expected with the shutdown, and I know a couple of friends have gotten their flights canceled.”
The strain at checkpoints and gate areas reflects deeper staffing shortages inside control towers and radar facilities. Air traffic controllers have been working without pay since October 1, and callouts have increased, according to the FAA. The agency said 12 air traffic control facilities were short-staffed heading into Thursday, a bottleneck that slowed traffic at some of the country’s busiest hubs and forced airlines to hold departures as arrival spacing widened to account for reduced staffing.
In a stark warning about the consequences if the political stalemate continues, Sean Duffy, Transportation Secretary and acting NASA administrator, said,
“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations. And you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it, because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said,
“We are starting to see evidence that fatigue is building in the system in ways that we feel we need to relieve some of that pressure. If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we’ll come back and take additional steps.”
As travelers tried to rebook, airlines acknowledged the dislocation. American Airlines and United Airlines said they were working to minimize the impact, though both relied on FAA flow restrictions to explain why flights were held on the ground or rerouted to less congested airspace. The tight labor market for pilots and flight attendants—and the strict duty-time limits that govern crew schedules—left some carriers with little margin to recover when delays propagated through their networks. The sudden announcement that crews were unavailable, as one Phoenix passenger described, illustrated how a single delay can knock multiple flights off schedule when staffing is already thin.
By Thursday morning, more than 1,000 flights had been delayed nationwide, and cancellations were rising rapidly. The nationwide figure swelled to about 3,400 delays and more than 100 cancellations by midday. Airports reporting major disruptions included Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Detroit, Louisville, San Francisco, Newark, Portland, and Sacramento. In Phoenix, where 200 delays and cancellations were reported on Wednesday, passengers described being stranded for hours, sitting at gates as boarding times moved in 15- and 30-minute increments, only to see crews time out or aircraft reassigned. At Denver, airlines diverted connecting passengers to later flights, while in Portland and Burbank, travelers piled up at customer service desks seeking alternative routes to reach weddings, medical appointments, and business meetings.
The immediate trigger is the government shutdown, now in its 35th day as of November 4, 2025, which has plunged aviation into its most severe operational test since pandemic-era disruptions. While controllers and some safety-critical personnel continue to report to work, they have not been paid since October 1, and industry officials say fatigue and financial strain are taking a toll. The decision to reduce the number of flights—starting at 4% and climbing to 10% next week—reflects an attempt to keep workloads at safe levels. FAA leaders said the cuts are “proactive,” but conceded that “more risk is injected into the system” when staffing is thin and schedules are compressed by cascading delays.
The airlines most visible to passengers included SkyWest and Horizon, which operate many regional routes that feed into hubs for Delta, United, and Alaska, as well as American, United, Republic, and Delta mainline operations. Regionals typically have the least flexibility during widespread disruptions, in part because they operate tight turnarounds at congested airports and rely on precise connections to move crews and aircraft through multiple legs each day. When flow restrictions force slower arrival rates, those careful connections can unravel quickly, leading to late-day cancellations that surprise passengers who thought they were finally boarding.
Travelers at Phoenix described the creeping uncertainty as they waited for information.
“It’s about an eight-hour delay. We’ve got a three-hour delay,” one passenger said, summing up the compounding setbacks.
Another shared the shock of a last-second announcement:
“It was ten minutes right before we start boarding. Everybody’s there at the gate and the Southwest rep comes on and says, okay, there’s going to be a two-hour delay. The whole crew called off.”
A third traveler, asked about the airport experience, told FOX 10 Phoenix,
“Lines for security were much longer, which I kind of expected with the shutdown, and I know a couple of friends have gotten their flights canceled.” Those first-hand accounts underscored how flight cancellations can cascade into missed events and unplanned overnight stays when hotels near airports fill up and rebooking options are scarce.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford framed the agency’s move as a safety valve to reduce the system’s temperature.
“We are starting to see evidence that fatigue is building in the system in ways that we feel we need to relieve some of that pressure. If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we’ll come back and take additional steps,” he said, signaling that deeper cuts could follow if the shutdown persists. That prospect, coupled with warnings from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about possible airspace closures, sent a clear message to airlines and passengers alike: schedule stability is unlikely to return until Congress and the White House resolve the funding impasse.
The air traffic control shortage was already a concern before the shutdown, but the loss of pay and rising sick calls have intensified the problem. The FAA said 12 facilities were short-staffed heading into Thursday, contributing to delay programs at major hubs and the need to meter arrivals into crowded airspace. Reducing scheduled flights by 10% is intended to align traffic demand with the number of controllers available to work, while preserving the most critical routes and times of day. Officials warned, however, that heavy weather or localized outages at radar facilities could still trigger sudden ground stops and new clusters of delays at short notice.
The geography of the disruption is wide, cutting across the country’s key corridors and secondary markets. Phoenix and Denver saw heavy delays early in the day, while Portland and Sacramento reported knock-on impacts from staffing constraints in California and the Pacific Northwest. Louisville, a cargo hub as well as a passenger gateway, coped with delays that threatened to spill into overnight package operations. Newark and San Francisco reported arrival spacing that stretched typical flight times and pushed departures back as crews neared legal duty limits. Travelers in Burbank faced the difficult task of finding open seats on later flights from larger Los Angeles-area airports, where the same constraints pushed back departure banks.
American Airlines and United Airlines said they were working to minimize the passenger impact, but both were limited by FAA flow restrictions and crew availability in markets where multiple flights depend on a single aircraft cycling through the day. SkyWest and Horizon adjusted regional schedules, swapping aircraft sizes and shifting crews where possible. Delta and Republic worked to protect first-wave departures for Friday to avoid compounding the week’s disruptions into the weekend, although the planned 4% reduction beginning Friday suggested the pressure would continue.
The political standoff showed little sign of resolution, and as the shutdown entered its sixth week, concern deepened over how long the aviation system could absorb the shock.
“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays, you’ll see mass cancellations. And you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it, because we don’t have the air traffic controllers,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. His comments reflected the fear among industry officials that, beyond the current 10% cuts, more aggressive steps might be needed if staffing declines further or if fatigue forces broader slowdowns.
For passengers, the advice from airlines was to monitor flight status closely and accept rebookings early when offered, because inventory shrank as the day wore on. Those who waited at the airport often found the remaining seats were hours or a full day later, particularly when their original route involved a tight connection. Families with children and older travelers were among the hardest hit, especially in airports with limited lounge space or late-night food options. At Phoenix, airport volunteers and staff directed travelers to cots and water stations as delays stretched into the evening, while social media feeds filled with videos of crowded concourses and long security lines.
By late afternoon, the contours of the day’s disruption were clear, and the outlook for Friday suggested only modest relief before the 10% cut takes full effect next week. Airlines were expected to trim schedules preemptively to reduce the risk of last-minute cancellations, trading frequency for predictability as they tried to keep crews within legal duty times. Whether that approach will hold in the face of continued controller shortages remains uncertain. The FAA said it would continue to provide operational updates and urged travelers to check with their carriers before heading to the airport. Official notices and press statements were posted on the Federal Aviation Administration website, which outlined the scope of the traffic reductions and the facilities facing staffing constraints.
As the day closed, the embodiment of the crisis remained at the gate: families staring at phones refreshing flight status pages, pilots walking past crowded seats to find out if their own departures would operate, and agents relaying updates that changed by the minute. The connection between the political stalemate in Washington and the lived experience in terminals across the country was unmistakable. The longer the government shutdown persists, the more the air traffic control shortage will bite, and the more passengers will face flight cancellations, missed connections, and unplanned nights away from home. For now, the FAA’s 10% cut is the ceiling—though leaders warned it may not be the last measure if pressure continues to build.
This Article in a Nutshell
On Nov. 6, 2025, major U.S. airports experienced widespread delays and cancellations as the government shutdown exacerbated an air traffic control staffing crisis. FlightAware reported roughly 3,400 delays and over 100 cancellations by midday. The FAA said it would reduce flight operations by 4% starting Friday and by 10% across 40 high-volume markets next week to relieve controller fatigue. Airlines adjusted schedules, reassigned crews, and urged passengers to monitor flights as officials warned further cuts or airspace closures if the shutdown persists.
