US Airlines Cancel 1,200 More Flights as Shutdown Chaos Grounds Travel for Fifth Day

Air travel across the United States remains in turmoil as airlines cancelled nearly 1,200 flights on Tuesday, marking the fifth straight day of mass disruptions tied to the record-breaking government shutdown.

More than 1,300 additional flights were delayed by mid-morning, leaving passengers stranded and terminals jammed from coast to coast. New York’s LaGuardia Airport has been one of the hardest hit, with average delays of one hour and 40 minutes, according to tracking site FlightAware.

On Monday alone, airlines scrapped more than 2,400 flights and delayed over 9,500, underscoring the deepening impact of the shutdown on the nation’s aviation system.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week ordered airlines to cut 4 percent of daily flights at 40 major airports due to a severe shortage of air traffic controllers, a figure that climbed to 6 percent on Tuesday, will hit 8 percent on Thursday, and is projected to reach 10 percent by November 14 if the crisis continues.

Negotiations are underway between airlines and the FAA to ease the cuts, as lawmakers inch toward ending the 42-day shutdown, the longest in US history. On Monday, the Senate passed a funding bill to reopen the government; the measure now heads to the House of Representatives before going to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Despite the progress, Trump has pressed controllers to return to work immediately, warning that their pay could be “docked” for absences, even as he promised a $10,000 bonus to those who stayed on the job throughout the shutdown.

Meanwhile, the financial fallout is spreading to Wall Street. By late morning in New York, major airline stocks were sliding: Delta Air Lines down 1.26%, United Airlines off 1.7%, and American Airlines tumbling more than 1.8%. Budget carriers fared no better, JetBlue fell 2%, Southwest dropped 1.8%, and Alaska Airlines slid roughly 2.1%.