, Fla. — More than one dozen flights to and from Orlando International Airport had already been canceled as of dinnertime Thursday as airlines prepared for the implementation of the FAA’s air traffic control restrictions.
As of Thursday afternoon, 4% of flights were expected to be cut to and from OIA, or approximately 40 flights. The number will gradually increase to 10% by next Thursday if the government shutdown does not end.
OIA leaders said they hadn’t been formally notified that they were on the list of 40 “high traffic” airports. However, information from the airlines suggested the FAA was dealing directly with carriers. Airline leaders posted updates to passengers throughout the day, announcing strategies and offering tips to people anxious about attempting to fly this weekend.
United said almost all its cuts on Friday would be to regional flights, and none to flights between its hubs. Frontier’s CEO advised passengers to buy a backup ticket on another airline. Most major carriers said they’d waive change fees, even on basic economy tiers.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Dr. Ahmed Abdelghany, who helped write the computer program airlines use to decide which flights to cancel, predicted impacts would be felt most on specific types of routes.
That includes shorter-distance regional flights, high-traffic routes with multiple departures throughout the day, and morning flights where a passenger can be easily rebooked.
“They will look at flights that are easy to recover,” Abdelghany summarized, emphasizing that it’s a significantly smaller headache for a passenger to be bumped by a few hours instead of overnight.
One factor, Abdelghany said, is that airlines cannot afford to have their planes and flight crews stranded in a hard-to-reach location that would affect additional flights the next day.
That contributed to the severity of Southwest Airlines’ meltdown in 2022, when the airline lost track of its planes and crews and wasn’t able to ensure they were in the correct location for next-day flights.
As politicians and travelers eye the Thanksgiving holiday rush in a few weeks, Abdelghany warned the shutdown, if brought to the so-called 11th hour and ended, would still be felt by the travel industry.
He predicted it would take several days for airlines to recover when House and Senate leaders finally reached an agreement.
“It’s going to be difficult, challenging for them,” he said. “Passengers will be paying the price of that.”
For a list of flight statuses, click here.
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