On November 5th, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced airspace restrictions to begin on November 7th due to the government shutdown. The restrictions are to reduce risks in airspace during the ongoing furlough of many government workers, to include air traffic controllers.
He stated, “One of them, though, is going to be that there is going to be a 10% reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” he told reporters. The restrictions will go into effect on Friday. It will impact roughly 4,000 flights nationwide. The list of impacted airports will be released on Thursday”
The list includes just about every major airport in the United States, to include some of the most congested: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in Georgia, Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina, and Los Angeles International in California.
I flew to Houston to a few days ago visit my sister without a return flight… it quickly changed. With the airspace restrictions looming for at least the next 10 days, I tried to get out as soon as possible but received the follow from American Airlines.
This was expected but I did not think it would happen so soon. The affected airplanes will be grounded at their hubs before noon on the 7th. I contacted American Airlines through the chat feature on the app, due to a two hour wait to contact an agent through the 1-800 number, I was told that my only option was to rebook or cancel and that if I cancelled, there was not a guarantee when I would be able to leave Houston. Sheesh.
Final Word
I hate that due to ongoing shutdown, airspace restrictions have caused numerous delays/cancellations throughout the country. What I hate even more is that the government has been shutdown for over 30 days and furloughed workers, who are essential to the safety of this country, are expected to work for “free” to keep the country open. Enough is enough.
