The travel of over four million passengers flying on Airlines for America (A4A) member airlines has been disrupted since the start of the government shutdown on Oct. 1 to Friday, according to the Airlines for America.
Airlines for America members include Delta, American, Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, and United Airlines.
“During the first 29 days of the shutdown, A4A member airlines canceled just 11 flights due to controller staffing issues; over the ensuing nine days, however, controller staffing issues caused them to cancel 1,271, including 865 on Nov. 7,” the association said.
The association estimates that there will be a “daily U.S. economic impact of $285M-580M” when the Federal Aviation Administration-mandated flight reduction reaches 10%.
“The estimate is tied solely to compliance with the flight-reduction directive; it does not include the ongoing staffing issues during the shutdown, the costs associated with the value of passenger time, reduced bookings, passenger refunds, etc.,” the association said.
