Duffy: Air travel will slow to a 'trickle' ahead of Thanksgiving if shutdown persists

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images News

Air travel heading into the Thanksgiving holiday will be reduced to a trickle as there won't be enough flights if the government shutdown continues, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told _CNN_.

"The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you're going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle," Duffy warned, adding that "there are not going to be that many flights that fly if (the government) doesn't open back up."

He said [https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/09/politics/video/transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-air-travel-issues-government-shutdown-airports-delays-cancellations] the number of Americans whose Thanksgiving travel plans could be impacted "is going to be substantial."

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to cut 4% of daily flights at 40 of the busiest U.S. airports starting last Friday, on account of air traffic controller shortages. These cuts must reach 6% on Nov. 11 and 10% by Nov. 14, with Duffy warning that the percentage could rise to 20% if the shutdown persists.

Thousands of flights were canceled over the weekend, with nearly 10,000 delays reported on Sunday alone, according to FlightAware.

"Thanksgiving time is one of the hottest times of the year for the economy," Kevin Hassett, White House economic adviser, told _CBS_. "And if people aren't traveling at that moment, then we really could be looking at a negative quarter for the fourth quarter."

From Oct. 1 through Nov. 7, air traffic control staffing issues disrupted more than 4M passengers on airlines that are part of the industry group Airlines for America (A4A).

If FAA-ordered flight cuts reach 10%, A4A estimates [https://www.airlines.org/news-update/latest-data-shows-huge-impact-of-the-government-shutdown-on-airlines-and-our-customers/] a daily economic impact of $285M-$580M, "depending on the degree to which airlines can re-accommodate cancellation-disrupted passengers on the remaining flights."

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