Government Shutdown Disrupts Flight Schedules, Clouds Holiday Travel Plans

“It could be a disaster.”

Those less-than-reassuring words from Vice President JD Vance last week characterized the potential effects of an ongoing government shutdown on the upcoming holiday travel season. 

Equally alarmingly, commercial airlines agreed with his assessment, calling on Congress to pass a stop-gap “continuing resolution” to reopen the government and restore funding critical to the industry’s infrastructure. Unfortunately, some experts say the damage is done and that it may prove long-lasting.

Expect Delays

Last Tuesday, US air traffic control workers missed their first full paycheck (by Thanksgiving week, they may be missing their third, if the shutdown continues). And the added stress is only exacerbating existing shortfalls: There are currently 3,800 fewer fully certified controllers than the FAA’s target, Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill published last week. In total, some 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay, sources told Reuters.

The headaches have, unsurprisingly, already caused delays and cancellations:

• On Sunday, October 19, there were more than 8,700 delays and 193 cancelled flights within, into or out of the US, according to data from FlightAware, while problems surged again midweek with another 7,300 flights experiencing delays on Thursday. Those were due in part to extreme weather in the northern and southeastern US.
• According to US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, 44% of the delays on October 19 were caused by air traffic control absences, compared with about 5% throughout the year prior to the shutdown.

“We are expecting a record holiday travel season; however, if the shutdown continues much longer, Americans will have to pack their patience and be prepared for more delays,” industry group Airlines for America said in a statement last week.

Missed Connections: The impact will hardly be temporary. Airlines are already quietly cutting routes in the first quarter of 2026, Evan Oshan, an aviation attorney and principal at Oshan & Associates, P.C., told The Daily Upside, adding: “The real damage isn’t just immediate revenue loss; it’s the long-term capacity cuts that take six to eight months to restore normal schedules.” In other words, it may be wise to start planning your winter getaway as soon as possible.