Airlines are optimistic about a quick recovery ahead of Thanksgiving
once the FAA ends flight cuts
[November 14, 2025]
By JOSH FUNK
Airlines are optimistic they can resume normal operations just a few
days after the government lifts its order to cut some flights at 40 busy
airports, but it's not clear how soon that will happen even though the
federal shutdown is over.
The Federal Aviation Administration did announce Wednesday night that
airlines won't have to cut more than 6% of flights at those airports
because air traffic controller staffing has improved significantly in
the last few days. Originally the order that took effect last Friday
called for those flight cuts to increase to 8% Thursday and top out at
10% on Friday.
A number of air traffic controllers missed work while they were going
without pay during the shutdown, and the spike in understaffing at
airport towers and regional control centers prompted the flight cut
order due to concerns about safety. The existing shortage of several
thousand controllers is so bad that even a small number of absences in
some locations caused problems.
Officials at FAA and the Transportation Department didn't offer any
updates Thursday morning about when they will decide to lift the order.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the decision will be based
on the safety data that experts at the FAA are watching closely.
The airlines say they will be ready and expect that normal operations
will resume within three or four days after the order is lifted. Some
experts have suggested that problems might linger longer than that and
could affect Thanksgiving travel, so it is difficult to predict whether
the airlines will be able to recover from this as quickly as they do
after a major snowstorm disrupts their operations and leaves planes and
crews out of position.
Airlines focused cuts on smaller regional routes to minimize the impact
on main hubs. By late Thursday afternoon, only a little over 1,000
flights had been cancelled across the country. Aviation analytics firm
Cirium said nearly 95% of all flights nationwide Thursday were on time.
“We are eager to resume normal operations over the next few days once
the FAA gives clearance. We look forward to welcoming 31 million
passengers—a new record—to our flights during the upcoming Thanksgiving
travel period, beginning next Friday,” the Airlines for America trade
group said Thursday.
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Travelers check their tickets at O'Hare International Airport in
Chicago, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Duffy has said that controllers and other FAA employees should
receive 70% of their back pay within 24-48 hours of the end of the
shutdown with the rest to come over the next couple paychecks. The
financial pressure on controllers drove some of them to seek out
side jobs to help make ends meet and call out of work while they
dealt with the stress.
Last Saturday, the staff shortages peaked when 81 different FAA
facilities warned they were running low on workers, forcing the
airlines to cut additional flights. On Thursday morning, the FAA
didn’t list any staffing warnings at airports and other radar
facilities across the country.
There was talk of offering both air traffic controllers and
Transportation Security Administration officers $10,000 bonuses for
working during the shutdown. Duffy has suggested the bonuses might
go only to controllers who never missed a shift during the shutdown,
but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she planned to give
the bonuses to any officers who went “above and beyond” while
working without pay. She handed out a couple of dozen checks to
officers at a news conference Thursday.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and Chief Operating Officer David
Seymour told employees in a letter Thursday that they are already
seeing improvements as controller staffing stabilized over the last
day or so even though more flight cuts will be needed until FAA
lifts the order. But travelers should already be seeing fewer delays
and cancellations on the day of their flights.
The two executives said they believe American Airlines’ planning and
efforts to minimize disruptions will help the carrier bounce back
fast and “deliver a strong Thanksgiving operation,” noting that
millions of travelers “deserve the certainty.”
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